Hey all,
Today we're going to talk about some of my favorite people in the world: English class members. Because I really think they embody everything you could say about humanity. They are so wonderful, and funny, and kind and sometimes a little rude. They are my favorite.
I've taken for a title today an actual sentence someone who calls himself Dandelion said to me. Dandelion is amazing. He found out I'm an English major and now he always reads me poetry. We've gone from Robert Frost to haikus.
Then there's Sister Kim. She is so long and thin. Clothes hang on her like they do on a hanger. She always looks hungry in class. Not because she's thin and needs food, but because she really wants to learn English. She's hungry for knowledge. And she is SO kind. Last week she brought us tangerines from Jeju! And then ran away before we could even thank her.
There's Sally, who stuffs us so full of food we can't even move, and makes the best kimchi chigye I've ever eaten, and puts on music for us and teaches us the names of the weird rare shellfish she spent a whole weekend looking for.
And then there's Brother Lee. This is actually one of my favorite English class moments. We were studying vocab and one of the words was 'to bundle up'. He thought it sounded a lot like the word 'buttock'. He repeated that word a couple times and then sat silently. Then he said "I have two buttocks". And laughed like a hyena for two minutes straight. (He's like seventy.) Then the man next to him looked at him solemnly and said "No, you have THREE buttocks." I had to leave for a minute. Old Korean men saying the word buttock just is too much.
There are so many beautiful people in this world. I got to see that a lot this week. The first snow came (yay!!!!!!) and it was gorgeous and cold. Twelve people texted us to be careful and stay warm. A recent convert gave me her warmest winter clothes. People invite us in for meals all the time. I felt everyone's love so warmly this week! It was amazing.
I exchanged with one of my favorite STL's of all time, Sister Evans, and learned a lot from her. She is wonderful, and is always finding opportunities to serve. She has a way of talking to people that just opens them right up. I love seeing the world through her eyes.
Also, our district is full of some of the most hardworking people I've ever met! First off there's my gorgeous Virginian companion who has gotten really good lately about wresting heavy bags off of grandmas so she can carry them up the hill. Then there's our zone leaders. One of them, Elder Kim, is the most consecrated missionary I have ever met in my life. He had all the member names memorized in 3 days, and is the person who calls us the most (besides my beloved mtc companion) and talks about investigators, less actives, etc. Our district leader always tells us how hard we work. He and his companion have the best relationship I've ever seen. They just love each other and care about each other. This one time two drunk guys followed us into a convenience store (nothing happened and it was nice that they thought we were beautiful after a long hard day of proselyting in freezing cold) and so we called our district leader and they ran all the way there to help us! I think they also gave the guys a Word of Wisdom pamphlet. Good job elders.
People keep asking about Korean and honestly it's just hard and I can get my way around a supermarket and I finally am understanding the toothless grandmas, and that's really all I can measure it by anyways.
CHRISTMAS IS HERE AND NO ONE REALLY CARES BUT IT'S GLORIOUS AND I CARE. But really this is the time it's hit me the hardest that Korea isn't a Christian nation. There are no lights, no Santas on the curb, no Christmas tree smell (although still lots of Christmas sales. No one escapes consumerism) and I miss it a bit. But it's helping me to focus on what Christmas really means.
One of my favorite moments this week was -- well, number one, seeing our mission president's wife, who is the classiest lady I've ever met. Number two was bearing my testimony to someone who didn't care. Because it was the first time that I cared more about what I felt, and what I know they felt too, than the fact that they were not interested. I've proselyted a lot but that lesson was the first time I said the First Vision with no other reason than because I wanted to, and I knew God wanted me to, and I knew she needed to hear it, rather than because it felt like 'this is what missionaries do'. Maybe it's a bit late at seven months here in Korea but no matter when that genuine feeling comes, it feels so special. Missionary work is irreplaceable.
Love you all!
xoxoxo
Sister Bell
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