Leanne's Mission Blog

9.5 weekly letter

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

Dec 17, 2017 at 5:45 PM

IT'S CHRISTMAS!

산타 할아버지!

We think this is Mrs. Claus.
There's a 신기한 place with all these Christmas-y things and pretty lights.
Hurray Korea!

I just wanted to stand underneath those lights for ever.

부대찌개! [pudae gigae, military base stew] Seriously delicious...

벌써요?!?! Oh my, it's already the fifth week of the transfer, and it's going to go by so fast!

This past week has pretty much been the same as usual. We stopped by a couple of members' houses to carol for them, which was a ton of fun.

Mostly we've been planning for and worrying about our Christmas party, which will be this Saturday. The missionaries have been 부탁-ed to perform 연극 (theater), so that's exciting. And a little stressful. Part of that is stress that we put on ourselves, of course, because we want it to be awesome, but... let's just say we still have to practice a lot. Hehe Hopefully the members don't judge us too much. Christmas is about love, right?

>.<

Since our ward is having a Christmas party on Saturday and our special Christmas sacrament meeting the following day, our ward has this ward project to invite more people. Since it's gotten cold in Korea, the 붕어빵 carts are out and cooking. 붕어빵 is this little fish-shaped sweet bread thing with red bean paste in the middle that is cooked right on the street; when eaten warm, it perfectly negates the cold winter wind. So! The stake invested in a 붕어빵 cart for the ward, and we're going to spend some time every evening until the party giving out free 붕어빵 to people.

The 붕어빵 machine!

You fill the bottom of those little fish with some batter, then plop some 밭 in there and top it off with more batter. Cook for a few minutes and 끝! So delicious!

We all had to learn how to use the 붕어빵 machine, so that was fun.

Be careful, it's hot.

Last night was the second time we tried it. We're still trying to master the making of the 붕어빵, but we tried it a little differently this time. We started making it in the gym, and once we had a few bags full, we decided to take them out and give them to people. Or, I should say, try to give them to people. Turns out strangers don't really want to take an unmarked brown paper bag from someone who just mildly chased them down (after that happened to Bishop he walked back to the church gate with his rejected bag of 붕어빵 and said, "Yeah, this isn't going to work. We need the machine out here."

So we brought the machine all the way out to the curb to show people that we were actually making 붕어빵 and not just trying to give them brown paper bags full of who knows what. It went a little better, but after we were finished we all stood around and evaluated how we could do it better, and the conclusion was that we needed to have the machine out there from the get-go. ㅋㅋㅋㅋ We'll be trying again tonight, so hopefully it goes a little better.

We took the machine apart a little bit in order to get it outside,
so I had to snap a picture of this beautiful procession. ㅎㅎ

Since the top was gone they figured they could
just wheel it down the wheelchair ramp... 안되었어요...

Bishop 성경진 ate 붕어빵 while the others were struggling to get the machine to the street.
It's okay, he was just... managing.

Elder Kang, Bishop Sung, Billy, and another Young Man whose name I do not know, gathered around the bread making machine not actually making bread,
just using it as a prop. ㅋㅋ

Merry Christmas! I think most of you should be on break and stuff, so that's exciting. I hope you get to, as our bishop would say, spend a "meaningful" break. :) Remember the #LightTheWorld initiative. The videos are all online, and they're super good.

As I've been thinking about Christmas and the greatness of the gift that the Savior gave to me, I've been wondering what I could possibly give Him back that would actually mean something. I think we learn about what He would want to receive in the scriptures: To me it seems that all the Savior wants is us to come to Him, to use the gift that He so un-begrudgingly gave us, the gift of His life and His Atonement. By living the gospel of Jesus Christ with all our heart, might, mind, and strength we're giving Him possibly the only gift He's ever asked of us. And it's not even for His benefit or gain; all living the gospel will do is bless our lives.

So that's the gift I'm trying to give to 예수님 this year: living the gospel and serving Him in His great and marvelous work with everything that I have. Not just my actions, but my heart and mind and my strength.

I love you all! I'll be skyping my family next week on Sunday, so I'm not actually sure if I'll email next week... Either way, have a good week! 메리 크리스마스!

Love,

Sister Chun