I Love Sundays!

This week started with a bang. That bang being my co-worker making the decision to suddenly leave Korea early Tuesday morning. Tuesday was hectic, as my boss and the Korean teachers and I rushed to adjust the schedule now that we were unexpectedly one teacher down for the day. None of us knew my coworker was gone until she did not show up for work. Fortunately everything calmed down quite quickly. I only had to teach one extra hour this week and I have successfully sorted through the work left behind by the previous teacher that I needed!

BUT. Today I do not want to focus on office drama. Today is a Sunday. And oh, how I love Sundays.

I am incredibly blessed to have a place to go every Sunday where I can be in the company of good people who are striving to be better and a place where I can learn and worship.

Ahhh Sundays.

This Sunday was, as we call in the LDS faith, Ward Conference. Honestly, it is very much like most Sundays! There are a couple special things we do but mostly we were encouraged to bring a friend. While I did not fulfill this challenge, I still felt very spiritually uplifted.

A couple of my friends were dressed in hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) as they greeted all visitors at the door. Hanbok is typically worn for special events and holidays. I think these clothes are absolutely beautiful so I had to get a picture with these lovely ladies!

After our church service, we shared a delicious bibimbap meal. If you have never experienced the delight that is bibimbap, I urge you to rethink life and change your ways! It has the healthful freshness of a salad but the flavor-fullness of actual food (yes I'm bashing salads, whatcha gonna do about it?)

Elder Woods, Elder Wagner, and I ate with a group of investigators (people who are taking lessons from missionaries to learn more about the Gospel). Mix that bibimbap!

Four of them are from Cambodia. The three on the left expressed a desire to be baptized as of today! Hooray! 

I wanted to snap a picture to show how many people we had but I'm always worried about being too invasive with picture taking so this one is not a good representation because I was trying not to draw attention to myself!

After the meal, the missionaries invited me to join them for a jolly game of good old fashioned charades. Well, of course it was a very bi-lingual edition since we had Korean and English speakers alike playing together.

It was also a Sister's birthday so we had cake and ice cream! Sister Mikesell is trying to act out "science," I believe.

Can you guess what Sister Naatjes is acting out? She ended up requiring some assistance!

We ended this activity with a short video and spiritual thought. I would also like to share the video we watched together. It is one man's personal experience about coming to know God after years and years of pain and struggle. I felt very moved by his story. Always remember that we are eternal, infinite beings. God works with us everyday to better ourselves but the betterment only happens when we are willing to embrace it. Sometimes this self-improvement requires difficult trials. These painful trials may feel like they will last forever but they won't. Trust in God and trust those around you to help you!

So now I am in my apartment, on my bed, taking in the beauty of yet another great day as I prepare for the week ahead. I have a couple things I wanted to write about. For example, my fantastic friend Jessica Drake sent me a birthday package, on top of three birthday cards I received from others. It was nice to get a second wave of birthday greetings. Also, September 10th was my 3rd month-aversary of being in Korea! I am 1/4 of the way through this incredible adventure. To celebrate, I went hiking and took several pictures of a beautiful temple that I would like to post about. Hopefully I will get this done before my 4th month-aversary!

Thanks, as always, for coming along with me on my Korea adventure. I will write again soon. 

Enjoy the new week, friends and family!