September 27, 2021 - (First Area) SuWan

This Is Where the Fun Begins!

 

This week has been quite freeing! No longer am I locked up in quarantine, desperately trying to find ways to meet people to teach online. I am outside in the vast world of South Korea, and it is truly amazing! That freedom is a bit overwhelming, both in a good way and bad. There are so many things to see and do, and it makes me excited! But it also feels like two and a half months of language study has been vastly insufficient, and I don't understand most of what goes on out here. That is about what I expected,  though, so if anything it just motivates me to work harder!

Friday was the day we got out of quarantine, and we were busy! At noon we went to the mission president's house for lunch and in person introduction. I love them so much! They had some informative and encouraging things to share. Our time was short though; due to COVID, there are some pretty tight gathering rules, so not all the missionaries could meet with the Sargents at once, which meant we had to shuttle through quickly so that everyone could meet with them. We quickly got shipped off to the mission office to meet our companions! Elder Young is absolutely awesome!

An update from last week's email: I was originally in a trio, but on Thursday we had an emergency transfer, and Elder Hale took Elder Ralphs to become their own duo. Elder Hale is still in training, though he is a few weeks my senior. We all still live together, and all 3 of them are just great individuals. President Sargent made Elder Ralphs sound less experienced than he is, so I'm setting off with some good examples around as well as some fellow greenie blood! Our apartment definitely isn't designed for 4 people though. It's really nice and in a really nice area though, so we're making it work! It's also much more well furnished than our quarantine setup, so that's a relief!

I've only been in the field for 2 full days, plus p-day today, but I've had to be on my toes. Saturday, we met with the ward mission leader. He fed us pig feet for lunch! I didn't know what it was till afterward, and it was surprisingly good, which I would not have expected! I didn't understand anything that was discussed, except for bits and pieces with context. That is a common thread for every interaction I've had. It's been a real wake up call. I come out of every meeting ready to hit the books and get studying so I can better communicate with these awesome people. The rest of our planned meetings on Saturday cancelled on us, but that worked out cause there was a ton of training and studying that needed to happen. Sunday was way busy, however. I did a brief self introduction in sacrament meeting, and survived! Next time there is a bunch more I want to say, but I managed to survive so I won't complain too loudly. We met a family after sacrament meeting who doesn't have much of an interest in the gospel, but does have a strong interest in learning English, and it's not often we get to expose a whole family to the gospel! They were so extraordinarily nice. For dinner that night we met with someone in the stake presidency. Great family! The son served a mission in Busan, and the daughter is getting ready to serve her mission!

Pday was crazy. My trainer is leaving in 3 weeks, so we're making sure to hit his bucket list locations. A bunch of elders who are leaving with him met up at a custom suit shop. Fully custom tailored suits with the option to put dragon lining on the inside! I'm not in the market for a suit right now, but I want to hit it again toward the end. Then we went to just a regular old castle. You know, the ancient Korean ones the size of cities. The regular. And IT WAS AWESOME. I went to 화성 행궁 (hwaseong haenggung). 행궁 translates literally to castle, but its more like a fortress. It's a big wall that surrounds the city, with gates going all around. The wall is so cool. Inside the wall there are several pieces including the Emperor's protected home, which we walked around. It was so much fun, and really made me realize just how cool it is that I'm in korea. To end the day we had 갈비 (galbi) for dinner dinner AND we got a referral from North Korea! They are living here, but came from North Korea, and I'll get to teach them! 

I wish I could pour all of the experiences I've had in two days into this weekly update. I'm still way confused most of the time, but the people are fantastic, the food is fantastic, the cities are fantastic, my companion is fantastic, and the language is fantastic (and difficult)! I'm loving it out here and feel like I can truly get to work now. I'll have so much to say next week!