Jan 22 at 8:09 PM
Okay, it's finally
dawned on me how many weeks I'll have to keep track of if I just keep counting
up, so! The first number is the transfer, the second number is the week. See? I
can sometimes do things. #nailedit
This week is unique for
a couple of reasons. Today is not actually P day, and I'm not with Sister
Giles. Since we get to go to the temple this week, and our temple day is
Tuesday, not Monday, today is just a regular day as far as missionary routine
goes (emailing aside, since they probably didn't want to get flooded by
concerned parents who don't hear from their children at the expected time), and
tomorrow after the temple we'll do P day stuff. The other thing is that I'm on
exchanges today. I'm with the zone's sister training leader, 강채은 자매님 (Sister Kang), and I'm not going to lie, she's
a little intimidating. She's been on her mission for a year now, so I'm
learning a lot from her. I feel bad that she has to say pretty much every
sentence really slowly so that my 외국인 바보
(foreign idiot) head can understand, but when she does slow down, I do understand,
so that's good. I have no idea how to reply, usually, but I do understand.
Making progress. It's good to see where I really stand in the language: let's
me know how much more I need to improve. :)
You know, one of the
things that surprised me when I first got to the field was how much we run. :)
I think the first time we had to run somewhere was from the Church house to our
house, so that we would be home by 9. Luckily we don't live very far away from
the Church. This past week we went from basically the top of our area (from a
member's house) to the bottom of our area (to our house) in about 15 minutes.
Hurray for running in a bajillion layers, half of those being skirts! Also,
with bags! Seriously, I feel like I better understand what a rugby player
might feel like: I just cinched my bag shut, held it in the crook of my arm,
and booked it. Sister Giles was killing it in heeled boots. We were home on
time, though, and that's the important thing. That was Tuesday. Running also
happened on Thursday. We had 12 Week follow-up, which we thought started at
10:00, and spiritual prep starting at 9:30, when in reality, spiritual prep
started at 9, and the meeting itself started at 9:30. (I'm realizing there are
so many holes in my narrative... 12 week is the thing Greenies and their
trainers do, just learning the basics of missionary work and what not. Since
it's been 6 weeks, we went for a half-way checkup I guess you could say.
Basically just another training meeting, a "you can do it" meeting,
don't do stupid things, learn while you can, etc. Spiritual prep is very
important for these things. The room full of missionaries is super
quiet--usually someone who can play piano is playing some prelude-type stuff--and
we're all just studying.) Admittedly, the time that we left, we would have been
a few minutes late to spiritual prep, which is regrettable, but we would've
been on time for the meeting. So while we're on the bus to go there, we get the
call informing us that we were told wrong, and that the meeting actually
started at 9:30, which was in about 5 minutes. So once we got off the bus, we
cinched up our bags and booked it. The only problem was that it was uphill. ...
... ... Sadness, but also awesomeness. I felt like such a boss. A
tired, winded, going-to-throw-up boss. I think we looked a little crazy when we
entered the building because the office Elders gave us a wide berth. I had been
asked to wave my arm during the singing things, so the coolest thing
(to me at least) was that as soon as we walked in--huffing and puffing--Elder
Nam, one of the Assistants to the President, anounced the opening exercises:
"... and Sister Chun will be leading the music." I had enough time to
swing around the back corner where there were seats available, drop my stuff
off, grab a hymn book and get to the front of the room. Elder Nam told me the
hymn number as I passed him, and then we sang!
The word I think of when
I think of that Thursday adventure is trust. I don't know that I
could eloquently describe why. Maybe the fact that even though we weren't there
yet, Elder Nam went ahead and announced that I would be the chorister; he
trusted that we would be there in time. The timing itself is what really
impressed me: literally as I walked in he was saying my name. It makes me
think of 2 Nephi 27:21: "... I am able to do mine own work."
The Lord works in
mysterious ways. The 12 Week Follow-Up Adventure maybe doesn't really have
anything to do with actual missionary work, but it's a good reminder that
there's Someone up there who has a better perspective than we do. He's watching
over all that we do; we just do the things we know He wants us to and He'll
guide us from there. That can be a little scary, doing that; I think a lot
of the times we just want to know that what we're doing is
what we're supposed to be doing, but even that knowledge comes over time. The
important thing is that it does come. And remember, we are
eternal beings, so... you could be waiting a long time. But don't worry!
Patience is a virtue! Or rather, patience is a Christ-like attribute, and
coincidentally, developing those is what makes life better. ^_^
Keep pushing forward!
Love,
Sister Chun
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