The Year of My Mission

When I said goodbye to 2013 and hello to the new year, I made the decision within myself that I would make 2014 the greatest year I possibly could.  In fact, I dubbed it "The Year of My Mission".  The setting of the situation was perfect.  I was in Korea, I was a senior missionary, I could speak Korean, I knew my personal method for missionary work, and I knew what I would need to do in order to make it the best experience possible.  So, I felt it was a perfect goal to set and remind myself about all year long.  And now as 2014 began to come to a close, and I'm was looking back on the entire experience as a whole, it sure proved to be quite wonderful.

I don't have much time to write about everything that I learned, and I definitely don't have time to post pictures of everything that I saw (I really want to do both though), so I'll instead just give a short summary and try my best to squeeze everything into it:

2014 was a year full of trials.  I had hard companions, I had difficult investigators.  I had sad times, and I went through many doubts myself.  Through all of these hardships - though I would never wish to go through them again - there were many lessons learned.  I discovered my flaws and how to improve them.  I found my true self and became a better version of it.  2014 was a year of experiences.  Culture festivals, new foods, trips to Buddhist temples, excursions to bath houses, and hikes to mountain peaks were only a few of the many things that I experienced all year long.  P-day, for me, stood for Party Day.  2014 was a year of people.  I met so many different types of people ranging from young to old, believer to non believer, Pakistan to England, and so on.  Not only did I meet with them, but I learned from them.  And I grew because of them.  The friends I have made here have been so kind to me, and our friendships will continue after the mission.  2014 was a year of lessons.  Never in my entire life have I needed so much patience, and never again will I be in another situation where I will have to put that patience to the test.  I've learned so many things about not only patience, but kindness, and true service, and friendship, and how to work with people, and - in the end - love.  2014 was the year of all of these things, and in the end, it was truly the Year of My Mission.

On the morning of January 1, 2015, I woke up at 5 AM.  The 4 of us put on our clothes and headed outside.  It was cold, but we dressed warm.  At 6 AM, we met the other missionaries at the base of Bomun Mountain where I had arranged for us all to meet.  We hike up to the top in the dark as the snow lightly fell upon us.  At the summit was the fortress, and the stars were still visible.  There we sat in the wind and cold, watching and waiting for the sun to rise.  The sky gradually brightened in the southeast over the horizon until finally, through the clouds, shone the new year.  Welcome 2015, I'm glad you finally made it.

Elder Graf