SeJong is seriously the most incredible area in the entire mission. Hands down. Now, I may say that about every area I've been in.... but still.... Let me walk you through my week and explain why I'm loving life right now.
Last week ended with an amazing time with all of our SeJong members. Because there is no church in SeJong and all of the members have to travel to a nearby ward of their choice (there are 3 different ones all in opposite directions of each other up to an hour away), one of the members decided it would be a good idea on Sunday nights to start doing SeJong Family Home Evenings. Basically, we're getting a head start to starting the branch in SeJong without a church building yet On Sunday, we gathered all together - old members, new members, and less actives alike, ate a delicious meal, and Elder Godfrey and I taught the lesson to them all. It was an amazing experience to see the faith and hope of these people, without a church building or any organization at all, coming together and being uplifted from each other like that. I can't wait until all their devotion and hard work pays off and the branch is established here - they deserve it!
Throughout the week of meeting with the wide variety of our investigators (famous poets, genius atheists, successful colonels in the military, adorable children, and English learners), I just couldn't help but continue to fall more and more in love with the people each day. They all have so many different opinions, backgrounds, dreams, plans, and purposes for meeting with us, but in the end they all share one common thing - they are all 100% equally important in the plan that God has for them. Even though most of our investigators struggle to come to agree with what we try to teach them, I still love teaching it to them nonetheless. Everybody I meet and come in contact with is important and worth my time as a missionary, even the English learners ;) And SeJong, being the brand new under construction capitol of Korea where everyone is moving in from all walks of life all over the country, provides the perfect opportunity to meet with ALL different types of people and to learn with/from each of them.
Of course, training Elder Godfrey just adds to the experience. He still loves Korea more than anything and is in awe every day as we walk around. He also is the greatest greenie in the world when it comes to trying the language. He's learning super fast, but he still makes his funny share of greenie mistakes. Story time: The other day when we were at a members house in Daejeon eating dinner, he asked our member if they had ever been to America before. When they responded back and said "no", he was at first thrilled because it means that he asked the question right and they understood him. Then, he decided to continue the conversation.
The sentence he wanted to say: "Do you hope to go?".
The word for hope in Korean: "Soh mahng"
The way to say that in Korean: "Soh mang Eesoyo?" (translates to "does hope exist?")
The word for death in Korean: "SAH mahng"
What he said to the member in Korean: "Sah mahng Eesoyo?"
What the whole conversation translated to:
"Have you ever been to America?"
"No, I haven't"
"So.... Do you have death?"
Hahaha! We all busted up laughing with Elder Godfrey just sitting there looking confused because he had no idea what he said. So yes, training is fun.
The week was filled with many other exciting things. Going on top of our recent convert's apartment tower with him and playing Phase 10 on the roof, me teaching the entire gospel doctrine class at our Daejeon Ward just winging it last minute but getting compliments out the ying yang from members afterwards, finding an ancient burial mound in the middle of SeJong at night and taking pictures on top of it, and setting a baptismal date again (this one is official) with our investigator for this next week. I am 95% sure it will happen this time. Anyway, as you can see, things are going amazing. SeJong is BEAUTIFUL, and life couldn't be better.
Elder Graf
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