Re: 8.4 Weekly Letter2

·         Leanne Noelle Chun <leanne.chun@myldsmail.net>

Oct 29 at 6:19 PM

Wow, the weeks just keep going by, don't they? It's crazy how different time seems on the mission...

We had a Halloween party on Saturday (since having one on the weekday didn't make much sense, and originally we had planned to do it on November 4th...), and it was a blast! We played some fun games together as a branch, and then we split into four different carnival-type games. They gave us tickets and then played the games to get candy. I guess I kind of forgot how excited people get over Halloween candy... ㅎㅎ We had bowling, fishing, candy pong, and whack-a-mole (but it was more like throw-a-mole, since all we had were ping pong balls). And we also had a pinata. Sister Castro was a little disappointed that it wasn't actually a real pinata--it was a box inside a box with about 100 meters of tape on it and fancy paper on the outside--but it was still pretty fun to see people beat on it. Probably the best part was our branch president: He was probably just as, if not more, excited about the games and candy and pinata than the kids were. ㅋㅋ It was fun to watch him freak out when he couldn't bounce any of the ping pong balls into the cups. 

The box inside the box.

We bought so much candy. O.o

Elder Steward, Franklin, and Elder Huillet with the pinata.
I promise that's not a real stun gun. I have no idea how that little boy got that...

We were pretty proud of this thing...

Pinata!

김동규b going at it

최윤지s. This little girl tried so hard...ㅎㅎ

Mad scramble for the candies!

최지영p being super excited about things Halloween-y

The outside of the pinata, post demolition.

We unwrapped chocolate with chopsticks. ㅎㅎ 

이승민b is a bank robber...

김동규b trying on his son's mask. 

홍희b! Love this sweet boy.

인진교b with the pole, Elder Steward running the booth,
and 김도윤b behind them doing... things. 

Cup racing. Branch president was also really good at this
(he is the one who suggested we do it, after all).ㅋㅋ

He was so mad that he couldn't get any ping pong balls into the cups...

Go Sister Castro!

Look, I made a spider, and it took me like, what, 10 seconds?

View from a cafe on a mountain

Do you see that cloud_!

Please ignore my crazy eyes...

That college life, doh...

We went on exchanges with the Sokcho Sisters and that was also fun. 이의영s came to DongHae with me and we had a good time visiting 김금순s and knocking doors. Yay missionary work! But, as always, it's good to be back with Sister Castro. :) 

I ate this spicy ramen that wasn't actually that spicy and it was SO delicious. Oh my...

The spicy sauce that was in my ramen. I promise it was super delicious.

I've also been learning a little bit about the power of prayer. You all may be pretty aware, but missionaries pray a lot (and even then sometimes it doesn't feel like we pray enough). Well, at 10:30 we turn out the light and say our closing prayers. As I've been serving my mission I've come to realize that actually praying--really communicating with my Heavenly Father--takes a little more effort than I originally thought. Here's how I know: by the time I'm done with my evening prayer, it seems that I've thought about just about everything except for what I want to say to Heavenly Father, and then I realize how sleepy I am, so I apologize and go to bed. 😳 So! I decided that was 안 돼요, and I started going into the other room to pray out loud. I cannot explain to you how much it helps. I didn't really realize it at first, but it had been a couple of days in a row that I felt really happy and willing to do the Lord's work, and when I went to the other room to pray it suddenly occurred to me that it was because I had been praying out loud. It helps heaps for the whole concentrating-thing. I just want to let you all know that Heavenly Father really listens to our prayers. He may not always answer the way we want or expect, but sometimes it's just kind of nice to know that Someone is listening, right? I know that being humble enough to speak to our Heavenly Father has helped me be happy and loving and focused, and I can promise the same for you all, as long as you're willing to try it. 

Hope you have a good week! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Chun