1st Week in Korea

Hello!!!!

Well I have almost made it through a whole week in Korea! It hasn't been easy, but I made it through.

 

We arrived Tuesday afternoon/evening and were met by the APs (President Shin was at a meeting) We took the three hour bus ride to Daejeon and lets just say the humidity hit me immediately!  I have already figured out that I do not handle humidity well and honestly miss the "Utah hot".  We were at the Mission Home for probably the most relaxing two days of my mission because we weren't super busy and just did training with the APs and President Shin.

 

I already love Korean food!!  We went to a yummy restaurant with this meat you made into little lettuce wraps and lots of other sides.  I tried Kimchi, and it was really good!! I don't know why people made such a big deal about it.  I am still trying to learn how to handle the hotness of some of the food.

 

Thursday we met our trainers!!  They put a board up and we saw our trainer and area and then they lined us all up and let our trainers in.  Well, I was the sister who said that I think it would be good to have an American trainer and then have a Korean companion later...It turns out that I am the only sister who got a Korean trainer, haha!! I set myself up for that one.  Her name is Sister Cho and she is from an area near Seoul.  She attended BYU-Hawaii so she speaks good english, but it has also been very difficult for me.  I am the first foreigner she has ever trained and I think she just doesn't understand the frustration and difficulty of learning the language.  She speaks so fast and I can hardly follow along during lessons and meetings and have to ask what she said afterwards.  Hopefully it will get easier.  I broke down a few nights ago because I was just so overwhelmed realizing I wasn't seeing family for so long, how hot it was, and just the overwhelming feelings of being in a different country and attempting to learn the language.  I pulled it together and have been fine since, and am really trying to practice my Korean.

 

My area is called Hng Dok (my best English spelling).  It is about a 40 minute bus ride from Daejeon and is a city area.  One of the elders from my MTC district, Elder Oehler, got sent to the same ward which is so fun.  I went up to him right after we found out and said, "guess who doesn't get to get rid of me!!" haha, it is good though cause we can sympathize for what each other is going through.  We have six missionaries total in our ward; four elders and me and my companion.  The ward is really nice and I attempted to understand what other people were saying, but I pretty much just smiled and looked like the stupid American.  We had to introduce ourselves and bare our testimony, and I felt okay about it I just want to be able to say more.  We also taught two lessons yesterday to a mother and to her 11 year old son.  I attempted to teach the beginning of the plan of salvation, but when I was done I think Sister Cho had to repeat everything I said, but I wouldn't know cause I had no idea what was going on.  The mother and son both agreed to baptism so we will hopefully be having a baptism on the 25th of August.  I am so excited.  Street contacting is something I am going to have to get used to and as I can understand and speak more I think it will get much easier.  I think they have as much of a problem understanding me as I do understanding them.  We live in a tiny little apartment with two other sisters.  They are sister Choi who is Korean and speaks just a little bit of English and Sister Spencer who is from California, and she is going to be my lifesaver.  I ask her lots of questions and she kind of understands the difficulties of being a greenie.  Our apartment has no air conditioning and I honestly did not think I could survive the first few days.  We have two fans and that is it.  I am beginning to get used to it and the fact that I am constantly sweating.

 

I am doing better and better everyday there is just so much to learn and get used to.  Everything feels like a blur this week, but next week I will make sure to write down stuff that happens.

 

Tell Luke good luck with his diving meet and tell Seth to be safe on the roads, I am nervous for everyone!! haha!!

 

I love and miss you all!!

 

Sister Chloe Jacklin