Dear Home,
You'd be surprised how many letters I've written waiting at haircut places. =D
But we're doing great here in (something in Korean). So far, it feels like we've been having a really good time finding new people to teach, but managing them all is getting crazy. (so many...)
Needless to say, I have no fear of calling people on the phone anymore. Tons of practice. Pretty much any time we're on the bus, I'm calling potentials or coordinating. Granted, a lot of other things have come up. People can't meet, lose interest, but we're seeing a lot of awesome people, planting seeds, and learning a lot about how to teach.
We've been doing a lot of first meetings this week with people we want to do more with. Learned something. "How to begin teaching" is crucial. Without it, you're shot.
A couple times we've tried jumping the gun, taught the lessons too early, and it didn't make sense. They need expectation and desire. Can't work without it. Two foreigners with limited language ability. It's hard to plan out a lesson and translate at the same time, but like I said. practice. I'm serious though. We've been seeing miracles. Happening upon people with interest, and enough patience to deal with us. =D
Little by little on my mission I've been learning how to work here. First area I learned managing investigators and priorities, second companion I learned how o do field work. Finding places, navigation, visiting people, confirming records, and teaching lessons simply (good transfer). After that I had a little harder of a transfer. I had to learn how to do a lot more with a lot less help. I picked more phone duties. I had to up my game on talking on the street.
But this time, I'm learning the first meeting. That first real impression. Who are we? What do we do? How can we change their lives through sharing this message?
It's hard to do it comfortably, but we're getting there.
The past couple people we've met with have been great. Were getting that first meeting down, and they're showing a lot more Gospel interest. Incredible what simply stopping to listen can do. In Korean, you're almost scared to. Will you understand what they say? But I mostly can now. And the things I've learned as I've done that are incredible.
They'll tell what they need. You don't have to guess.
Of course, this is stuff any greeny could tell you, but I've found that you relearn a lot of lessons on your mission. Slowly getting a better understanding each time.
When I was a greeny, I couldn't speak. I felt like Moses with his "slow of speech" but similarly I've seen miracles in spite of weakness. And now that I'm overcoming that weakness. He's giving me a chance to grow.
I've been in Korea for six months. I've always had Korean companions to catch the lesson when I couldn't say what I wanted to. But now I don't have that. I have to always think ahead. But I've seen blessings as I've done that. I'm seeing with a great deal of clarity what the needs of my investigators really are.
I wonder what English missions are like. They skip straight to the Spirit, not this struggling just to communicate. Still has to be hard, but man, sometimes I miss sharing testimony in English >=D
Silly thought that. It feels the same. That witness I feel and they feel is sitll there. The only thing different is that I have to work harder. And if anything, that should make it stronger. I've seen people touched by these testimonies, simple as they are.
So, what am I really saying?
I'm grateful to see this. To see how the spirit sent isn't restricted by language. Pretty amazing.
Stupid thing about writing letters and randomly starting/stopping: lose your train of thought.
That was kind of radom. And now I'm really tired. But General Conference is coming soon! Super excited. I'll save writing until I can write about that.
~~
2013.04.15 week 24
Never any time, but today it was our fault. Found a place to get traditional Korean clothes and... had some fun there. Spent half the day it feels like taking pictures in our apartment.
~~
New plan. Such as it is, get this in the mail. A kind of boring letter is better than nothing.
Let's just say, conference was awesome, I'm feeling awesome, life is great, and while challenges arise, we're seeing miracles. ^^
I'll try to share thoughts on conference later, but one thing: Joe, you're a genius. That mp3 player was a good idea. I love the micro SD card. I can plug that in, download all of conference in about 5 minutes and listen to it everyday before breakfast. So awesome.
Bible videos , too. (just the audio) I'm looking forward to exploring this. ^^
Time to start a new letter. I actually want to get this sent eventually.
I love you! Have a good one!
(signed in Korean)
No comments:
Post a Comment