12.1 마지막8

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

Mar 25 at 9:53 PM

선니s and 성탄b Love these kids so much! They are beyond adorable...

The Elders were enlisted to help 자유인 (Freedom Man) carry his stuff to the bus terminal.

Mama Duck and ducklings. ㅋㅋ

Sister Cook's quote_I'm holding America in one hand and Korea in the other_
Ladies and gentlemen, Sister missionaries in Korea!

I was taking up the whole bus by stretching out my legs, so I crammed them behind the chair...

I can't tell you how many 할머니s took pictures like this
and thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

Well, folks, I think it's safe to say that I never thought this day would come... hehe As a greenie you think, "There's too much time! It's never going to happen!" and then you get to be an older missionary and think, "One transfer left? A lot can happen in 6 weeks... I've got a lot of time. It's never going to happen." 

Funny thing about time, though, isn't it? It just... passes. So, here we are, and I'm writing my last weekly email. I wish I could express myself, but I think I'd have to understand how I feel, first. 😀 Maybe I'll get back to you on that. 

This isn't the first time I've said this, and it definitely won't be the last: I've learned a lot from my mission, and I'll be learning from it for the rest of my life. I don't think I can fully articulate how grateful I am for the people I've met, the love that I've felt, the experiences I've had, and the ways that I've grown. 

Life is good! See you all soon! 

Love,

Sister Chun

11.6 Weekly Letter3

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

Mar 18 at 8:43 PM

Last district meeting! I think I had just whipped Elder Maneha in the face with my hair,
which is why we're all so smiley...

Wow, the week before transfers! I wonder where I'll go? Hehe

This past week we had a couple of weird weather days where it got really warm (basically gorgeous spring days) and I got a little bit sunburned when we were working at the Helping Hands Center. It was the best. And then it got cold. ㅜㅜ But it's okay. I just thank Korea that I got to enjoy some of the spring weather before I head out (not going to lie, I'm a little bitter about missing a Korean spring time...) 

I've said this before and I think I'll be saying it for the rest of my life: I'm so grateful for the experience and growth serving a mission has given me. Hopefully I can keep on keeping on that road. Eternal progression is what it's all about, right? 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Chun

11.5 Weekly

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

Mar 12 at 12:57 AM

Not a very flattering angle, but that is a giant Buddha we saw on our hike today. 

Isn't he majestic_!

Oh my gosh, we climbed a mountain today. I have never hated my legs more (no part of my body should feel like this), but it was totally worth it. 

I'm a slow hiker. 

And more stairs. 

Up, up, up the stairs, and then... the tunnel...

We at kimbap on the top of a mountain. #nailedit

Sister Cook was snapping a picture of the scenery, and I happened to be eating a triangle kimbap. Kimbap makes me happy, but this is how I feel about hiking, I guess. 

Yup. We're on a mountain. I don't think I'm going to get over that...

The Misty Mountain

And more stairs. 

Trees. And... a random man. 


On our way down we met a few foreigners just beginning to make their way up: We said hi to the girls, and the man that was with them (bringing of the rear) said to us with some disbelief, "You went up there?" Sister Cook and I were happy to be able to tell him that, yes, indeed we had. hehe I like hiking, but being on the dry, flat ground is wonderful. 

That's where we were! This was just after the guy asked us in disbelief
if we had gone all the way up there...  

Sister Cook's first time at BapBurger. We ate deliciously. (잘 먹었어요.)

Things at the Helping Hands Center have picked back up a little bit since the Paralympics have started. We've already met a lot of pretty neat people. For example: getting off the bus in Gangreung, we see a couple of foreigners intensely studying the time board of buses and conversing back and forth. After Sister Cook and I talked to them for a few minutes, we found out that they were from Montana, and their son was a guide for a visually impaired skier. How cool is that? 

I got to go on exchanges in DongHae this week. Sister Butler, one of our awesome Sister Training Leaders (STL) made sure that we had an opportunity to visit 김금순s (Kim GeumSun), the recent convert in DongHae who Sister Castro and I fell in love with. We called her in the morning to confirm the appointment, and she recognized my voice! She's about 2 1/2 feet shorter than me, but the squatting is worth it to hug that cute little lady. I love her so much! 

Sister Butler did my hair in the morning, and I don't think I've ever looked
more put together on my entire mission...

Another shot of the hair.

Exchanges with Sister Butler was awesome!
This Sister is a bubble of joy, and she's an excellent missionary.
Pleasure to know her, pleasure to serve with her.

I'm sorry to say that I went out in public like this. I accidentally sent my jacket hood home, and the rain here will make your hair fall out, so I thought I would use what protection I could...

This is actually something that someone decided to create. 절 닮았어요... ㅋㅋ

김금순s trying to get me to put the camera away.  Heehee!

김금순s finally let me take a picture with her. Hehe!

All in all, my companion is the best, and we're having a fantastic time in Korea. It sort of astounds me just how much Heavenly Father has blessed me; I look forward to recognizing His blessings for a long time. 

I love you all a lot! 

Love,

Sister Chun

11.4 weekly letter

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

Mar 4 at 9:43 PM

My companion's eyeball.
It looked almost exactly like the color of the ocean, so I had to show it to her. 

Water-proofing my feet. I think it worked. 

We found the beach!

The time is counting down. It's difficult not to be a little bit excited about it, but I'm working on not waiting for the destination (home) so much that I overlook the journey (last 3 1/2 weeks of full-time missionary life). 화이팅! 

Things in Gangreung have slowed down a lot, so we may start spending more time in Sokcho, which is exciting. Hopefully we'll be able to focus on some other aspects of missionary work over these last few weeks. :) 

Something kind of cool happened at the Center. We were chatting with the Bowmans, the Military-Relations Senior couple, and Sister Bowman asked me where I'm from. Come to find out, Sister Trish Long is one of Sister Bowman's best friends! Small world, right? I had a little freak-out session about that, and then we decided that we needed to take a picture. My mom reminded me how fast technology is, because she already had sent the picture out when I opened up my email this week. :) Hurray for technology! Hurray for missions! 

That last sentence is probably the biggest understatement of a century. I'm not sure that I'll be able to sum up entirely everything that I've learned while I've been on my mission, or how I've changed. Actually, I've been trying to sum it all up in my study journal, and I don't think I can quite remember or even realize everything. I guess I'll be seeing blessings from my mission for the rest of my life. :)

Time is short, and I have to go, but I just want you all to know that I love you! Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Chun

11.3 Weekly Letter

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

Feb 25 at 8:02 PM

Oh my gosh! Time! Fast, but slow~! 

It's okay, we're having a good time in Sokcho. Actually, we spend a lot of time in Gangreung, so I'm not sure if we can even call ourselves the Sokcho sisters anymore... We did go knock on some doors in our area yesterday, so I guess we're slowly reclaiming our Sokcho Sister-ness. 

I just wanted to share really quickly about our day at church yesterday. The meetings were all fantastic (we gave a 20 minute class for the youth that actually didn't go terrible, so that was good), but I think the best part was the couple hours after church. We ate lunch together (such good homemade Korean food), and then all helped clean up, and then one of the members teaches piano lessons to a couple of the youth and some of the Primary kids, so while we were cleaning up there were fun piano things happening; then our exercise guru member had a great time showing a couple of the sisters some workouts. He was very enthusiastic, right down to when he told me that I need to work out. Several times. >.< It's okay, 형제님, I know. I'll work on that. Hahaha 

When we left to go knock on doors, I felt so... light. They're not my biological family, but they're my family, you know? I was expecting to feel crushing sadness, because in four weeks I won't be able to enjoy days like yesterday, but I didn't feel as sad as I thought I would, because immediately following that realization, the thought occurred to me that I would still be able to enjoy that feeling on Sundays, and other days, too, because I'm always going to have people around me whom I love and who love me. It was a comforting thought; even more comforting is that that feeling of family, even halfway around the world from my immediate family members, can extend to every single person in the world, because we're all part of God's family. Isn't that crazy? Crazy cool... :) 

I love you all! Let's love each other this week, shall we? 

Love,

Sister Chun

More Pics from Mormon Helping Hands Center - Winter Olympics

11.2 Weekly Letter

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

Feb 18 at 8:20 PM

We see this on our way out in the mornings... Hurray for the 15th floor in Sokcho!

Well, not much to report except that we were at the Helping Hands Center a lot this week. :) It was a combination of 설날 (Lunar new year, which is a big deal in Korea) and big games going on. SO many people there. Holy cow. It's busy, but it's fun! 

I don't know if I explained very well, but Sister Cook lived in France for a year, so her mission language is Korean, but because she speaks the French things she can communicate with other people who also speak the French things. It's very exciting. She got kissed on the cheeks by a French guy, so that was fun. :) 

I just speak English, and sometimes not even very well. I've come up with some new words (spontaneously created, and therefore not very well remembered) and had some really awkward moments ("groping" instead of "griping")... I've just decided to speak more Korean. Hopefully my brain will decide to be good at one or the other one of those two languages... #nailedit

I love serving with Sister Cook. She is a fun, funny, hard-working Sister whom I admire very much; I think we're going to learn a lot this transfer. 

Sorry there's not much to report. Or, rather, there's too much to report, so I guess I'll just give you a highlight: I also got kissed this week. I helped a couple of foreigners get going the right direction for the shuttle bus, so one of them took a picture with me and then shook my hand, and the other shook my hand and pulled it up for a little 뽀뽀 before he walked away. It was weird. Good thing I didn't have to slap him, 'cause that would have been problematic. hehe

Another highlight: I showed this girl through the Helping Hands Center, and she actually stopped to make an account on FamilySearch.org! It was really cool to be able to share about family history with her. Hopefully she keeps going on it!

Also, yesterday at church, all the talks and the subjects for the classes we taught were centered around service. That was pretty 신기하다. Hurray for the Spirit and personal revelation! 

I love you all! I hope you have a good week. 

Love,

Sister Chun

Put a bubbly mask on my face,
so I just thought I would recline in my 할머니 [halmoni - grandma] dress. 

Our faces were so soft.
[Me with Sister Cook, my French-speaking companion.]

My hair got long...

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be focusing on. Maybe the cute bandana_
Or possibly how super wavy my bang are... ㅎㅎ (1)

11.1

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

Feb 11 at 8:46 PM

Wow. First day of the last transfer. It's sort of weird, because we've been in our area for a week now, but it definitely feels like longer: it's been a long week. 

Long, but good! So, I think I probably mentioned that we're going to be helping out with the Olympics. More specifically there's a Helping Hands Center right across from the big train station in the city where the Olympics is taking place, so we get to help a lot of confused foreigners find taxis and places to eat. Actually, we get to help confused foreigners and frustrated taxi drivers. It was kind of crazy, because right after the morning devotional on Friday (we were just about to say the closing prayer), the mayor of Gangreung comes in and thanks us for the work we're doing and encourages us to keep doing it, because they need our help. My companion Sister Cook also had kind of a fun experience: She got pulled over to the taxi loading place by one of the official Olympic volunteers and told to call all her "yellow friends" to come help. Haha Basically this week has just been one big confirmation that Heavenly Father not only knows His children, but He wants to help them, and He can make happen what He needs to have happen. It's good to know that He's on our side. 

Sister Cook speaks French, which is basically why we're here, and there have been a lot of encounters where her absence would have been felt. I just feel like I'm sort of along for the ride, but it's a fantastic ride, so I'll take it. :) 

I feel like I had so much to say, but now I can't think of anything. 😅 One thing Sister Cook and I keep saying is that this transfer is probably going to be the busiest, most miracle-filled transfer that we've ever had. Woohoo! Bring on the miracles. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be here! Hopefully I can bring home some cool souvenirs. :) 

I love you all! I don't think I'll have time to get all the pictures up that I want to, but it's okay, I'll be able to show 'em to you in about a month and a half... O.o

Love,

Sister Chun