I spent only 2 weeks in Korea, quite a short time compared to what I was expecting, quite a short time compared to what anyone was expecting. But in those two short weeks I learned and experienced much. I felt as though I was home, I felt as though I had lived there forever, and upon reaching the unexpected end of my stay I felt like I was leaving my home forever.
No one knows if I will ever have the chance to go back. I certainly plan to, but life is full of so many maybes, I cannot be sure. But I would never give away the time I was able to spend there. I would never take it back. But now, I would like to share it with you.
On the 9th of January in the year Two Thousand and Twelve, I embarked on a journey that would change my life. I left for Korea. I woke up at 5 or a bit before and readied myself for the airport. Excited we made it on time and took a picture with a smiling me and a crying mom. How exemplary of a permission photo op. Then I departed on the plane, for what was to become one of the longest days of my life. On the plane I became filled with self-doubt, and even decided that I could never be a missionary, I would need to turn back. Then I realized that nothing in this world would get me back on a plane before it was absolutely necessary. So I resolved to stay. As I exited the plane, went through customs, met the mission president, and caught my first glimpse of Korea and knew that I would love every second of it. I was right.
That night (January 10th) I stayed at the presidents house, in a room reserved usually for apostles, and had my first experience sleeping on a yo (Korean mattress) I loved that so much, and am now trying to find out where a girl can buy a yo in America… That was a ridiculous side note, now on to the story of this missionary’s life.
January 11th
I woke up and took a wonderful WARM shower (my only consistently warm shower in my entire Korean stay) and then had breakfast with my mission president and his wife, President and Sister Lee. They are both amazing, sweet, and constantly smiling. I loved them from the second I met them.
After Breakfast I went to the mission office, had a brief training, met my companion (sister Seipel! So awesome, we had a wonderful, if short-lived companionship) , and took off for my first combined district meeting. The meeting was fun, and intense, we set all kinds of goals that we strived to meet. I also met my whole zone, and they were awesome! One of the Best things was that Elder Greer from the MTC was in my district! In fact, his companion was my district leader and we got to know one another really well. I was also able to take my first subway and bus rides in Korea!
Upon finishing the meeting we went to teach my first ever lesson to an investigator! It was awesome, I was so nervous, but it turned out really great. Her name was Sophie and she was so sweet, interested mostly in learning English but once we started teaching the gospel section of our 30/30 program she seemed pretty interested in that as well.
After Sophie we were able to meet with Marsha. Marsha is a really wonderful lady who has been meeting with missionaries on and off for almost 2 years. She finally seems to be progressing which is totally AWESOME! I love her so much! But my arrival was a bit of a shock to her, she learned to love me too though. She then took us to dinner before our English class.
Teaching English Class was also really fun, I was nervous but I am pretty comfortable speaking English so it wasn’t too bad. Once class was over it was a little before 9 and we were able to drag my luggage up and down hills to our apartment. (Our apartment consisted of a small kitchen, a bedroom with our yos and desks, and extra room with drying racks and hangers for clothes, and a bathroom with a toilet, washing machine, and shower head). Upon arriving home, there was nothing a wanted more than to unfold my yo and go to sleep on the heated floor. So, we made our plans for the next day, and sleep I did.
