Sunday, August 28, 2016

Church and back (and lived to tell about it)


Successes of the day:

1. We found an atm that allowed us to withdrawl money with a foreign card (yeah! This allowed us to go to church!)

2. We got all of us on the right subway to go to church.

3. We found our way to church despite my bad decisions.  Instead of transferring to a bus, I thought it was short enough to walk. In the rain. I'm pretty sure all of the Koreans thought we were nuts as we did it without umbrellas. (The Korean folks love to stay dry. Everyone has their own umbrella on hand. In K dramas, you will be deathly ill the day after you get suck in the rain. Always.) We walked into church 5 minutes late and dripping wet.  Korea isn't too different than America. The only empty row was front and center.

4. We made it through church. Bless those sweet missionaries that softened the day. Elise wanted to go home after sacrament meeting but the primary president made primary much more bearable for Elise/Lilly by inviting in an English speaking elder to help with the lesson. We doubled primary today and increased young women's by 150%.  The older girls loved meeting a girl Chloe's age and are anxious for an upcoming mutual activity where they will learn to cook some food item that got lost in translation. It's a good thing they like her since she is the only young woman in the branch!  Everyone left church excited to come back, which is what I was hoping for. Half way through I was losing my resolve as I was pretty sure that I was scarring Elise for life. Yes, she was won over by a sandwich break and a couple of games of uno, but she was won over none the less.  (And in defense of the primary president, what do you do with 2 kids for 2 hours straight?)

5. We made it home from church much faster and dryer, thanks to a ward member who lives close to Halmoni. And now we know the best way to get to church so future Sunday's will be easier.

6. I learned the word for Holy Ghost. And I learned that I can sing Korean hymns just fine as long as they aren't speedy cheerful ones like "the is sunshine in my soul today".

2 comments:

Bridget said...

Way to go!!!

Linda Tunnell said...

what an incredible experience! Your kids will forever be touched by this. It makes me feel so good to read your blog, you don't seem quite so far away. Love you all!