December 18, 2011 An Amazing Experience

Dear Washburn Family,

 

I had an amazing experience this week! I want to tell you all about it.

 

Thursday Sis. Kim and I had to walk to an appoinment in an area we don't normally visit. As we made our way to an intersection everything suddenly seemed so familiar.

 

"Sis. Kim, have we been here before?"

 

She looked around her and then nodded. "This is where we came your first night. We waited for a taxi by that light."

 

I smiled to myself because I don't think I will ever forget my first night with my new companion in my first area.

 

That night, after all-day training, no sleep, and adjusting to a foreign country with absolutely unfamiliar smells and customs, I was totally overwhelmed! I was the only missionary to be assigned a native companion and it was odd to watch my MTC friends laughing and joking with their new trainers while Sis. Kim and I walked silently to our subway station. We had to haul my two very heavy suitcases among crowds and crowds of subway travelers, up and down all of the stairs at the station as we transferred trains, and out into the bitter wind of a Korean winter. By the time we walked out of the subway and out to the street it was 7 or 8 o'clock at night, and I was exhausted!

 

Sis. Kim said it would be impossible to bring my luggage on a bus so we needed to wait for a taxi. And it was freezing! I could hardly keep my eyes open. It makes me laugh to think about it now but right then I was one very overwhelmed greenie.

 

I remember hugging my duffle bag tightly to myself to keep warm, looking at my feet, hearing the rush of the cars as they sped passed and just pouring out my heart to God.

 

"Please, please let us find a taxi quickly. I want to be a good missionary. I want to overcome my sleepiness and be cheerful. I want to be excited. But I can't find any energy at all. Please, please, please just let us find a taxi quickly..."

 

2 minutes passed, then 5 minutes then 8, and we still couldn't find a taxi.

 

"This is so weird," Sis. Kim exclaimed. "It's never hard to get a taxi now!"

 

After 10 minutes I gave up praying and just stared miserablely at the cars as they zipped passed. About 20 minutes later I resolved that God didn't intent to send a taxi at all, but 30 minutes later a van-taxi finally pulled to the curb. We hopped in and drove to my very first apartment.

 

This week when we came to that same intersection and I remembered that night I suddenly realized something. I turned to Sis. Kim.

 

"A van-taxi took us home, right?"

"Yes."

"I haven't seen one since then. Only the little sedans. Where are they?"

"Vans never come here. They only go to and from the airport. The one we took home your first night accidently got off course and picked us up on his way. He kept saying how lucky we were because your luggage would have never fit in a regular taxi. It called us lucky the whole way home but you didn't understand because he was saying it in Korean."

 

It was a spritual slap in the face. God did answer my prayer, and a lot better than I even expected. It's a testimony that even though we may not understand the "language" or timing of our Heavenly Father he will always do what's in our best interest. Always.

 

I love being a missionary. 

I love my beautiful, feisty little Korean companion!

I love my Savior and being a tool in His hands.

 

And I love you. :)

 

Love, love everywhere!

 

Sis. Washburn     

즐거운 성탄절 보내시고 새해 복 많이 받으세요 (MERRY CHRISTMAS)

Dear Family,

 

Hello from 연 수! Things are just rollin' along here, and I can't believe Christmas is already coming up next week! Holy Cow! This week has been quite a whirlwind. Here's the low-down in Korea as of today:

 

Yum Yum

Koreans are absolutley fixated on food.  I've never seen anything like it!  Every meal is very important and a lot of what makes Korea Korean are the cultural habits of eating. And they're all so thin...

 

1. If you visit anyone in their home or office at work they always give you something to eat, and they normally give you something to take home as well.  In our visits to investigators, less-actives, recent converts and members I've had sweet cashew bread, toasted oysters, tangerines, Korean bacon, apples, fried pumpkin, rice cake in bean dust, and much much more!  (I just barely escaped having to eat steamed fish flesh last week. God answers prayers.)

 

2. The guest must eat.  And eat a lot.  Most of my prayers here are to be able to finish my meals!  I've really really missed Ammon's wonderful habit of finishing my meals for me.  It is very rude not to finish your rice and especially rude to not rave and compliment the food.  Koreans eat so much and have amazing heat-resistant mouths!  I don't know how they do it.  They can slurp a massive pile of steaming hot noodles in 47 seconds.  And they really do slurp.  Large bites and loud slurping is not rude at all.  That's the fun part.

 

3. Kimchi is really served at every meal.  I've had Kimchi for breakfast, lunch and dinner--my native companion has made sure of that.  She is the biggest eater of them all.  My favorite kimchi is white kimchi.  It's so refreshing and tastes like a very mild dill pickle.  So good.

 

Spiritual Food

 

I absolutley love one of our investigators.  On my second day we taught him the first lesson and I shakily and nervously recited the first vision in Korean.  Oh goodness, the spirit was so strong!  He is so prepared and is already so amazing.  He is always a gentleman and is always pulling out our chairs and pouring our water and making sure we are taken care of--he is very soft-spoken and thoughtful.  We asked him to be baptized last week and he accepted but seemed really nervous.  He's still unsure about tithing and the Word of Wisdom.  He doesn't smoke or drink now, but it is a huge cultural thing here in Korea, and not smoking or drinking can possibly hurt your chances to get a good job or impress a professor.  We're really praying he doesn't get too scared to take a step forward.  We really love him.

 

I should probably go, we need to take the subway to our Zone activity today (woo hoo!).

 

I love you all! And I'll talk to you soon!

 

Love, Sis Washburn

Winter is Here!

Dear Family,

It is officially winter weather here in Korea.  When we walk to our appointments or tract outside I can taste the cold (does that make sense?  I was trying to explain it to my companion--like pennies on your tongue?  Frigid winter air tastes and smells like metal to me).

I absolutely love being a missionary!  I have no idea what Koreans say to me most of the time but I love them so much it practically kills me!

Goodness, so much to say about Koreans!  I think I'll follow last week's email as a model and use a few short stories to illustrate the typical everyday happenings here. 

This week in Incheon (specifically Yeong Su):

Giggles

One afternoon, Sis Kim and I caught a bus in the middle of town in order to visit a less-active member on the outskirts of our area.  As we made our way down the aisle I noticed about 10 to 15 school age children crowding around a few rows of seats.  As we got closer one looked up from his phone, gasped, and in English blurted out, "Hello!"

Suddenly all 15 children looked up at me, grinned and yelled, "Hello! Hi! Hello!"

I smiled and said, "Hello, how are you?"

Then the bus practically exploded with giggles.

All Korean children learn to say "Hello. I am fine, thanks. How are you?" and it practically tickles them to death to say it to a real-live American. 

They're all giggle-machines too.

Koreans are born gigglers.

English Class is like Candy

I absolutley LOVE my English class!  Sis Kim puts me in charge of English lessons, so for an hour every Thursday night I get to teach about 5 or 6 Koreans the do's and don'ts of English.  Most of the ones that come to class are already pretty good and just need to work on their pronounciation.  They all gave themselves English names, so I teach Steve, James, Mr. Pac, Miss Pac, and Connie every week.  Last Thursay they asked me a lot about Colorado.  They wanted to know what the weather was like, if we have four seasons, how we greet new neighbors.  That last question made me laugh.  James was the one to ask.

"Most of the time your next door neighbors will bring over a basket of breads or candy or flowers," I said.  "It all depends on the area.  Most people at least go over to knock on their door to personally welcome them.  A good neighbor says hello."

"Ah," James sighed. "That is very different from here.  Here the new ones visit the old neighbors.  They bring brightly colored rice cakes.  They asked to be loved.  They go door to door looking for friends."

Then Steve turned on his I-pad.  "Look, Washybun.  This is a rice cake.  I will brings next week for you to taste."  The whole class nodded.

Steve also asked if he could bring me some fuzzy socks to keep my feet warm at night.

I love my English class.

Ode to the Vacuum

Our vacuum saved my life this morning.  As I stretched near my yo (the flat mattress that I sleep on--its about 8 inches thick and folds into thirds.  No one uses beds here.  The heating comes through pipes in the ground so the closer to the floor you are the more comfortable you are) while I stretched I saw in the corner of my eye this big, black, hairy thing dart past me and under my desk. When I went to investigate I found the largest spider I have EVER seen in my whole live-long days!

My heart practically blew up.

Sis Kim's response?

"Oh. That's one's a little fat, huh?"

I commanded Sis Kim to keep watch, ran for the vacuum,  jabbed the hose down the side of my desk and turned on the power.

We both groaned when we heard his thick hairy body bouncing off the sides of the tube and then the heavy thunk as he landed in the clear vacuum chamber.  He was definitley dead, but he was still huge.

Blah.

As a sign of my unending thankfullness I'm determined to name my first-born child "Hoover."

That's a vacuum, right?

Poor kid.

I love you all so much and pray for you everyday!  I can honestly and sincerely testify to the people here in Korea that the Gospel blesses families because I can see and feel the blessings in my own family.  Anytime I show pictures of our family to investigators they always gasp and exclaim, "They are laughing at a joke, maybe?  Why are they so happy?"

That's when I say, "Well, let me tell you a little something about God's plan for His children..." :)

Love you all,

Sis. Washburn 

First Steps on Korean Soil

DAY OF DEPARTURE:

    Up at 3 am to pack and board buses to airport.  

Excitement in the air like a fog--you could taste it. 

Layover in San Francisco--got to call Mom and Dad. 

13 hour flight! 

      Incheon International Airport (Korea), big smiles everywhere. 

 

FIRST WEEK

We were invited by an American family in Seoul to spent Thanksgiving with them. It was funny to look out the windows of their high-rise apartment to see the neon-lights and hustle bustle of Seoul but be eating mashed potatoes and apple pie.  My companion is a native Korean (Sister Kim) and she was really excited to try turkey--she'd never had it before!

It was the most culturally meshed Thanksgiving I've ever had.

So many things have happened, so I've decided to organize this email into a couple of short stories that will hopefully illustrate the general craziness of my first week in South Korea.

Ready? Okay, here we go.

The Friendly Old Women Who Live in the Trash

My very first morning in my new area (Incheon), Sis. Kim and I left our apartment and headed toward the bus stop to make it to our first appointment.  A few minutes down the road I noticed this old woman hunched over a pile of papers, old cabbage, and broken toys that had been raked up against a nearby building.  As we passed we smiled, bowed, and said hello.  She looked up in surprise at first, then her whole face wrinkled with her grin and she mumbled something cheerfully in Korean. 

About an hour later, in another part of the city I saw the same thing!  Old woman, pile of trash, her scrounching around for something.  I've seen that same scene at least 10 times now, with different old woman in different parts of the city.  And they all are so friendly!

Yesterday, after seeing yet another old woman in the garbage I finally turned to Sis. Kim and asked, "I don't understand--why are all of the old woman in the trash?  What are they looking for?  Are they homeless?"

She looked confused at first and then turned to look behind us at the old woman.

"Hm," she said. "I never think about it before.  They are not homeless.  In Korea, it's just this way."  Then she chuckled and we kept walking.

It sounds like an epsiode worthy of "Unsolved Mysteries."

Well, at least I think so.

The Fact that I Have No Idea What's Going On

My third day, we had an appointment with two women that Sis. Kim had met on the street the week before I came.  Sis. Kim said they had no interest in hearing about the church but wanted to preach their faith to us.  They urged her so intently that Sis. Kim eventually made a deal that if we met and taught each other she'd agree.

So we met them near our church then took a taxi to one of their apartments.  We knelt on the floor and sipped herbal tea and munched on crackers.  I introduced myself as Sister Washburn, said I was from America, and then smiled.  That's about all I comprehended from the whole appointment.  I sipped my herbal tea and munched away on my crackers while Sis. Kim and the women talked.  After a while I noticed that one of the woman was talking and talking and kept saying something about Adam, and promises and the Bible when all of a sudden my companion started to cry!

What in the world is happening! I thought.

I looked over to Sis. Kim, but she looked down at her lap and let her tears fall into her clasped hands.

Holy Cow!  I don't understand, should I bear testimony?  Should I rebuke them?  Why would I rebuke two old woman?  This is just herbal tea, right?  Sis. Kim said we could drink it, right?

After a few more minutes, Sis. Kim stood up to leave and I followed.  We bowed, said thank you, then left.  On the street I practically smothered Sis. Kim.

"Are you okay!?  What did they say?  Do you need something?  What happened?!"

After a couple jumbled, hectic minutes I eventually came to understand that the woman wouldn't let Sis. Kim talk about the Book of Mormon at all.  They said we had no right to teach, that we were too young and naiive.  That God doesn't work through immature youth.

I was pretty fired up after that.

"Sis. Kim, you're an amazing teacher!  We have the Spirit!  We have our testimonies!  We're here because we've received a call from a modern prophet!"

She just smiled at me.  I have a feeling she didn't tell me all that they said to her.

Oh, goodness.

Isaac--I have an even greater respect for you now.

Korean is tough.

I've Become a One Person Circus Act

Everywhere I go people stare at me like I have five eyes and a tail. 

One time, while Sis. Kim and I were walking down the street, a van full of little children drove slowly past.  In the passenger seat was this cute little Korean boy.  We made eye contact so I smiled and nodded my head.  His eyes got about as big as saucers and he screamed, "Meegook sahrahm!"  Which means "American!"  (That's how you pronounce it, I'm not quite sure how to write it in English.)

On my very first night here, after walking out of the airport, the APs took us on the subway and let us loose so we could get some contacts.  I sat next to a couple and introduced myself.  After a few minutes the woman put her fist up to my face.  I flinched and giggled, half-expecting her to punch me right there!  But eventually I understood that she was saying my head is small!  She was seeing whether my head was the size of her fist!

Koreans are very complimentary though.  They think Americans are beautiful and usually tell you so when you talk to them.

I feel like a movie star or a circus act most days.

It's an odd feeling.

I better get going. My companion is done and we have some errands to run today!  I love you all so much and I'm so glad everything is going well!  I pray for all of you every day.

Love,

Sis. Washburn

CELEBRATION!

Good Morning!

First off...a very important announcement:

I LEAVE FOR KOREA IN 6 DAYS!!!

GAH!

Whew.  Okay.  Just had to get that off my chest.

It's so crazy to think that I'm actually going to Seoul in less than a week.  We got our travel plans last week and my whole class celebrated after class.  Miriam had sent me a package just the day before with a bottle of Martinelli's Cider (you were definitely inspired, Miriam--thank you so much!) so at lunch I made sure to ask for paper cups and then brought the bottle and the cups to class with me. 

After language study we all trooped outside, set the cups on a nearby bench and picked up the Martinelli's bottle.  First Elder Greer tried to open it, then Elder Robinson and Sister Evans and Sister Rovelsky--no one could get it open!

I was sure we were just going to have to pretend to drink it when they handed the bottle back to me, but decided to try one more time just for kicks.  I walked over to the picnic table in front of us, wedge the cap against the edge, smiled at the Elders standing in front of me, and then pulled with all my might.

And that's when it exploded EVERYWHERE!

And the best part is Sister Rovelsky just happened to take a picture right at that second!   It's a phenomenal shot!  There's me on the far right, holding the cider bottle like some sort of machine gun, and the Elders on the far left, their arms in the air and pure terror in their faces, and in the middle this beautiful thick stream of cider arching across the shot like a vision.

We laugh so hard everytime we look at it!  We only had about two tablespoons worth of cider left afterward but we divided it between the seven of us (my teacher, Brother Ball,  included) and enjoyed every drop.  Thanks again, Miriam!

We leave the MTC bright and early (5:00am) Monday, November 21st to board the long-anticipated blue buses for the SLC Airport.  Our flights depart from Salt Lake about 8:30am and we land in San Francisco about 10:00ish in the morning.  My Branch President, President Shin, gave us permission to call home while we're in San Francisco, so expect a call between 10am to noon Monday, November 21st! (I think there's a time change actually...so give or take an hour on either end.  I just felt like the garage people you were talking about a few weeks ago, the ones that said to be home between such and such an hour and made you stay home all day.  I promise to be more punctual.  Cross my heart.)   I can buy a phone card here at the MTC so you shouldn't have to worry.  I'll just call the house phone.  Wow, that seems so funny.  Can't wait to hear your voices!

Goodness gracious.  The next time I write I'll be on South Korea's little peninsula.

Holy cow.

Love you all to pieces!

Sis. Washburn   

MY KOREAN CLASS - All aboard for Korea!

    

Field Trip

Hello all,

 

Wonderful news: My cough is officially gone!

 

It's a relief to not be so inhibited by my own body!

 

(Thank you, thank you Berdan family for the amazing health kit you sent--it saved my life! 

p.s. Hannah--being a missionary is awesome! You'd be a wonderful Sister missionary--keep it up!)

 

This week I got to go on a field-trip, a real field trip.  One of the sisters in my district had to get hip surgery last week and she asked me to come with her to the hospital.  So we did some companion exchanges (Sis. B stayed with Sis. Westrup's companion, and I left bright and early with Sis. Westrup for the hospital.)

 

A sweet elderly sister volunteer drove us to the hospital at 5:30am in the morning and even the drive itself was an adventure.  As soon as we drove out of the MTC gates we found the whole road torn up for construction and cones every which way.  Our trusty driver had a field day with those cones--we were swerving in and out of every cone on that road.  We laughed like little girls the whole time.  We definitely looked like a bunch of hooligans.

 

What rascals.

 

When we got to the hospital several nurses escorted me and Sis. Westrup to her hospital room and explained the whole procedure.  It was Sis. Westrup's first time with surgery so she was a little nervous, but she did wonderfully!  When the nurse grabbed her wrist to put in her I.V. she suddenly turned toward me and whispered, "I hate needles, Washburn. I hate them so much..."

 

 

Sis. Westrup grimaced and tightened her fist, the nurse looked up from her needle to me, and I suddenly burst out, "Well that reminds me of this one time when I was growing up in Michigan and I was determined to build a tire swing in my front yard..."  I rattled on and on about pretty much every wacky adventure I've ever had.

 

When the nurse missed her vein the first time and had to try again my stories got even wilder!  Sis. Westrup was the perfect audience and looked right into my face the whole time the nurse struggled.  And by the time a second nurse came in to try the third time to put in the I.V.,  I was waving my arms around, clapping my hands, and generally looking insane. 

 

The second nurse got the I.V. all set, thankfully--otherwise I think I might have fainted from the exertion of my very long, and very tall-tales.

 

She went into surgery after that and I waited in the hospital room for three or four hours studying the New Testament and attempting to translate my Korean Preach My Gospel. (Reading Korean is not an easy venture...)

 

When Sis. Westrup returned she was pretty out of it from the surgery and medications they gave her so a nurse let me borrow her laptop to watch General Conference on the LDS website.  The nurses were amazing!  They even bought me lunch and it was from one of my favorite restaurants! (Zupas was my tender mercy that day.)

 

Sis. Westrup ended up having to stay the night at the hospital so they sent me home, alone, around 4:30pm.  The weirdest part of the whole day was walking by myself around the hospital to the front doors to be picked up by the shuttle.  I kept looking behind me to see if anyone was there.  It's weird to be alone now.

 

Sis. Westrup is doing just fine now, hooray, and we like to joke that we've developed a bond unlike most sister missionaries because I've actually hand-fed her crackers.  I call her my little bird.

 

Sis. Bauer, my real companion, doesn't seem to mind that our relationship doesn't include that aspect.

 

Better go--out of time!

 

Love to you all,

 

Sis. Washburn

 

Oct 25, 2011

Catching up

Two weeks ago--(October 11)

Hello!

 

This week I punched myself in the face.

 

Really, I did!

 

It happened while I was playing volleyball with my Mandarin district friends.  My team won the point, and I was up to serve so an elder on the other side threw the volleyball over the net for me to catch.  I lifted my hands (placing them just a foot from my face) and watched the ball curve over the net and rocket straight into my waiting hands. 

 

What I didn't anticipate was the actual momentum of the ball and the fact that my hand placement would bring it STRAIGHT INTO MY FACE!  (This is the most amazing and embarrassing part...)   My thumb went straight up my nose (ha!) and my fist punched me right-smack in the middle of my eyes!

 

All of the elders oohed and aahed, with some 'yikes' tossed in there as well, while I staggered backward and tried to clear my vision.  The most embarrassing part was I gave myself a bloody nose so I couldn't even pretend it hadn't happened!  I have a phenomenal bruise inside of my nose now, and a cut the size of a staple on the edge of my nostril where I jabbed myself with my thumb.  (This is so much more embarrassing writing it down!). 

 

Afterward I found Sis. B and dragged her into the bathroom with me.  At first, when she saw all of the blood, she worried but once I told her the story she laughed and laughed and laughed.  My whole district laughs about it now, and when Sis. B randomly chuckles to herself during personal study and I ask "what are you laughing at?" she just smiles, tilts her head to the side and points at the scab on the side of my nose.  Oh goodness, never a dull moment here at the MTC.

 

Besides punching myself, we've officially reached our halfway mark here at the MTC!  Oh my goodness, I can hardly believe it!  The older district left for Korea yesterday and our babies (the new district) will be coming in a week.  I'm going to miss the older district so much, they were some of my best friends here, but I'm so excited to prep for Korea--it seems so much closer now!

 

Last Wednesday, I convinced Sis. B and the two other sisters in my class (the four of us sleep in the same room and they're some of my best friends now) to all wear the same thing and pretend like we hadn't noticed.  We all wore orange-red shirts with black skirts and white flowers in our hair.  We had different cardigans, and hairstyles, but it was definitely noticable.  I just have to say that my companion and Sis. Rovelsky and Evans are some of the best actresses I have ever met!  Most everyone believed it was a coincidence!  We were pretty good at looking surprised and bewildered when people pointed it out.

 

Like I said before, you know you're a missionary at the MTC when everything is suddenly very, very funny.

 

Best day ever.

 

Other than that, life has just been rolling right along here.  Sis. B and I have really been improving our Korean and hardly ever look at our notes in our lessons. I'm feeling more confident in expressing my thoughts and understanding what our investigators say (I'm pretty sure it'll be the exact opposite once I'm actually in Korea, but I'll take what I can get).

 

 Love you all more than the Temple cafeteria breakfasts! (and that's saying something...)

 

Sis. Washburn 

October 18 - Miracles

Hello all!

 

My fingers are still a little numb from standing outside for our latest fire drill, so I´ll blame any misspellings on my floppy fingers.  Also, an Elder switched all of the keys on my keyboard so I´m not certain if all of the characters are coming out and the shift key is hard to press down--you might have to do a bit of personal translation for this email...

 

Anyway, this week has been jam-packed with miracles!

 

Since last Tuesday I´ve developed this cough that WILL NOT GO AWAY!  I didn´t want to go to the medical center because I really don´t have any other symptoms and I was sure I´d get over it soon.  But I didn´t.  And that cough stayed like an unwelcome house guest.

 

It got to the point that I couldn´t sleep at night because I coughed every two minutes or so.  From Tuesday to Sunday, every night, I´d lay in bed for ten minutes, feel sorry for coughing, and then eventually grab my pillow and blanket and head out to the hallway to sit on the couches in front of the vending machines.  I´d stay out there on the couches until about 2am or 3am and then head back to my room to quietly slip into my bed.  If I started coughing again, I´d just go back out to my good ol´buddies, the vending machines, and practice Korean until it was time to get up.  I got an average of three or four hours of sleep every night.

 

Crazy, right? 

 

Now, here´s the miracle.

 

I still functioned!  I went to class, I taught our investigators, I laughed and joked with my district, I did everything I normally did!  I was so sustained by the Spirit it was amazing!  Any other time of my life I would have died.  Being a missionary is the best medicine around.  The Spirit´s a pretty wonderful doctor.

 

On Saturday, I ran into my dear, dear friend, Rachel Robison, at the TRC and it made my whole week!  She speaks Korean and came in as a volunteer.  When I poked my head in to see who we would be teaching and saw her bright, smiling face I couldn´t help but gasp and turn to Sis. B to say,  Holy cow, my Rachel is here!

 

We loved teaching her.

 

Also, last Sunday, a guest came to my district meeting before church and sat in on our lesson. His name is President Hacking. Before the meeting I smiled and introduced myself and he asked if I was related to any Washburns in the area.  I smiled and said I was pretty much related to every Washburn in some way and we eventually found out that my great grandmother, Wasel, is his grandfather´s sister. I found a long lost cousin! 

 

At the MTC-wide fireside that night we found out that President Hacking was the speaker. I got all excited and jokingly commanded everyone to listen extra carefully because my cousin was up there, and a few moments later, when Presiden Hacking was at the pulpit, he made me smile and wave at the camera and said,  If nothing else, Sister Washburn will make a great missionary because she´s got good ól cowboy blood in her veins. 

 

Yee-haw!

 

Who knows when this cough will finally go away, but I just know, I just absolutely know, that God sustains his servants.  What a blessing to be so directly involved in building the kingdom and to keep that stone cut without hands rollin´along.

 

Miracles.

 

So many miracles for a lowly cow-girl missionary.

 

love, love, love you all!

 

Sis. Washburn 

How Do You Know...?

 

Wasn't Conference amazing!

It was like Christmas here at the MTC!  That whole Saturday and Sunday was so relaxed and filled with the spirit that you could noticeably see every Elder and Sister smile a little more.  It's funny to watch Conference as a missionary in an auditorium packed with Elders and Sisters--everyone cries and laughs at all of the same parts and everyone sits up a little straighter when President Monson stands up to the podium.  It was fun to watch.

Speaking of missionary quirks, the second week I was here I started a list of ways "To Know You're a missionary at the MTC."  Since I've started it my companion and the other sisters in my room have started thinking of their own things and adding them to my list.  Here's a sneak peek:

How to Know You're a Missionary at the MTC

(with real-life examples):

1. Your language reflects your desire to "pray continually..." (Me: "Wait, Sis. B, can I have thy help?" OR Me: "Hey, Elder Greer, President Shin is looking for thee.") 
2. Your spiritual well-being begins to outweigh your physical well-being (Every night I have a new bruise and for the life of me, I can't remember when I could have possibly gotten it! We work so hard that we hardly notice when we walk into a wall or get punched by another Sister--I'm too preoccupied with memorizing Korean vocabulary)
3. Everything you laughed at before isn't very funny anymore, and everything you would never have laughed at suddenly becomes hilarious (We have a Sister from Mongolia going to Korea with us and she plays the same trick every breakfast, lunch and dinner. Anytime someone closes their eyes to pray over their food she quickly and quietly takes a few of their dishes and distributes them on other peoples trays. When they open their eyes it takes them a minute to realize and we all laugh like it's the most hilarious thing we've ever seen. Every time. We laugh every time.)
4. You learn to say hello in a billion languages (walking to and from my class here I say hello to my friends in the Thai district, the Mandarin district, the Japenese district, the Spanish district, and the Portuguese district. Sis. B and I are trying to learn the Cambodian hello, but we keep forgetting it.)

And the list goes on and on! We have some pretty good ones, but I've suddenly forgotten most of them! We have a good time learning here, I love it.

Sis. B and I like to say we're officially missionaries now because we've had our very first discouraging week, that was last week. Everything was going wrong! Everyone was sick, we were learning the most difficult sentence structures in Korean, we were suddenly finding it very difficult to have time to prepare our lessons and we didn't fell like our lessons were even helping our "investigators."

It all culminated Wednesday evening and it literally felt like my morale sighed, dropped its head, and cried. I remember sitting in class, just staring at the board as my teacher, Bro Ball, explained a difficult Korean structure, and wondering, "Holy cow, I'll never be able to do this--why was I called to speak Korean, how can I help someone feel the spirit and find a relationship with Christ if I hardly know what I'm saying?"

After class we all walked silently to our rooms, like little missionary zombies, and sat in our beds, staring at the ceiling. It was while I was spiritually moaning on my bed that I suddenly felt this surge of excitement. I was so taken off guard that I sat up in bed and laughed. My companion and the other sisters in my room turned to look at me and raised eyebrows in confusion. After a second I said, "Oh my gosh, we're missionaries! We've had our first bad day!"

We all laughed, and Sis. B and I started marching around like soldiers (not sure how to explain that one, but it helped with our resolve...)

I love being a missionary! Since then I've had this unsinkable excitement to learn everything. Korean is coming along so well now and I finally feel confident to express myself, as well as I know how, in Korean! It's a beautiful language with a lot of symbolism.

Love, love, love,

Sister Washburn    

A Day In the Life of...

 

First, to answer Dad's question--

 

What to expect from a typical day here at the MTC:

 

6:30 am:  Rise and shine!  There are 6 sisters in my room, all going to Korea, and we all get up a little before or at 6:30, then rush to the showers, blow dry our hair, brush teeth, comb hair, etc.

 

*Special note (only my family would understand the magnitude of this next statement):  I Take 10 Minute Showers every morning.  Crazy, huh?  Exact obedience brings miracles, that's all I have to say... :)

 

 

Then there's breakfast at 7:20ish.  I eat the same thing every morning, which is an asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese and apple/ orange juice.  I love apple/ orange juice!  I have them at every meal.  My district teases me a bit for it but I'll never change.  I crave juice like nothing else!  I love it! 

 

 

Normally the first class block follows breakfast.  We have two teachers, Brother Ball and Brother Andersen, who come each day to teach during one of the two 3 hour long class blocks that we have here (one in the morning and one in the evening).  Brother Ball in the morning and Andersen at night or vice versa.  I LOVE CLASS!  But it's definitely draining, especially now that we're really getting into the complexities of the language.  After Finnish, Korean is the second hardest language to learn here at the MTC. In order for you to fully understand what I mean, let me give you an example:

 

A couple days ago, Sis. B and I were teaching one of the two investigators that we have (both of which look an awful lot like our teachers...) about the family.  I was explaining that through God's plan we can be with our famillies forever, etc.  The investigator kept giving me funny looks but neither Sis. B or I knew why.  After we finished we walked out and headed back to our classroom when I finally figured it out!  The word for family is pronounced "kah-joke," but I was saying "kah-jook" the whole time.  Hence, the lesson took an unexpected turn:

 

ME: "God loves leather. I love my leather. I want to be with my leather forever."

 

Amen.

 

Sis. B and I laughed pretty hard about that one.

 

Besides class we have time set apart for personal study, language study and T.A.L.L (which is a computer program for language learning).  Each is about an hour.

 

And, last but not least, GYM!  All of the Elders live for gym time.  It's hilarious to watch them.  It's always an Elder that volunteers to say the opening prayer and it most often sounds like this, "Heavenly Father, thanks for the gospel, AMEN!"  Then the timer goes off and they're off! I get a kick out of it every time, they're practically jumping out of their farmer-tanned skin to be able to yell and kick and run.  I play volley ball with the same group of Elders every day.  They're all on our same floor and all of them are learning Mandarin.  There are about 10 of us (me and the nine Mandarin Elders) and we play the most intense volleyball I've ever played!  I love it!  Any time I see one of them in the hallway it's always, "Hey Sister Washburn! Volleyball?  You going to play again today?"  They're great.  We're buddies.  

 

Oh, I just love being a missionary.  I love it.  It's such a privilege to teach the Gospel and represent Christ.  My heart is so full of praise and the yearning to bring EVERYONE to the Gospel!  I love missionary work!!

 

Wish I could write more (This week had a lot of adventures!) but I'll save them for next week.  Love you all!

 

I know our leather can be together forever. :)

 

Love, love, love,

 

Sis. Washburn  

Hello! Hello! Hello!

안녕  Hello informal    안녕하세요  Hello formal

여보세요 Hello on a telephone

  

First, a bit of wonderful news:  Sis. B and I taught our lesson entirely in Korean without having to read a pre-written script for the FIRST TIME! (Korean is actually pretty easy to read once you know the alphabet--it's recalling the sentence structure and vocab that gets ya) We were so ecstatic afterward we high-fived and hugged and laughed the whole way back to our class! I love Korean! 

Now I just have to tell you this story because every time I remember it I can't help but blush and laugh.

Last Tuesday M. Russell Ballard came for our Devotional and gave an amazing talk on what being "set-apart" really entails as a missionary. Sis. B and I decided to sing in the choir that night (the MTC choir has about 500+ missionaries) and during the choir number the camera panned in right on my face and focused on me singing for several minutes (there are two large projector screens and several television all over the auditorium that everyone can look at).

That in itself is only a little exciting, but the very best part is...I wasn't even wearing my own name tag! After gym I accidently grabbed another sister's tag in my room. I had to find out from everyone else after the camera zoomed right to my face and everyone could clearly read Sister Evans, not Sister Washburn! Everyone in my district and all of the friends in other districts have been coming up to me all week to laugh about the whole thing! Now even M. Russell Ballard thinks I'm someone else...  

Honestly, every day has been such an adventure here. Sometimes while I'm sitting in class, bearing my testimony in Korean, adjusting the little black name tag pinned to my dress, (the one that actually says my name...) I can't help but be suddenly smacked in the face with the reality of it all--Holy cow! I guess I'm really a missionary!

It's so amazing to learn together as a district too, we have a lot of fun together. Last night one of the older district sisters and I were talking outside our rooms. She was trying to say the word "smart" in Korean but got it confused with another Korean word that sounds similar--So instead of calling me smart she called me really really fat! We laughed so hard I had to sit on the ground and lean against the wall to support myself! 

Today I'm determined to do some serious illness prevention. It's our P-day today and yesterday I woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose. Sis. B has been wonderful and carries around a little roll of toilet paper in her back-pack for me (I couldn't find tissues anywhere yesterday).

Sis. B and I started a game last P-day during laundry called "my story tag." I buy a little bag of Sour-Patch Watermelons, we find two chairs near our washing machines, and we go back and forth telling each other embarrassing, exciting, revealing, and/ or any story about ourselves back and forth, each time rewarding our story with a piece of candy. It sounds silly but it's our favorite game. She basically knows every embarrassing thing I've ever done in my life. And she stills carries around a roll of toilet paper for me, I think that means something :)

I better go, but I love love love you all--I pray for all of you every  day! And I'm SO GLAD DAD'S SURGERY WENT WELL!

Gah! I have to go I'm out of time! 

All of my love,

Sis. Washburn  

First MTC Communication!





The golden ticket to get into the MTC--recovered Immunization Record!



  

Last Wave!

Dear Friends and Family,
 

I hope this email makes it--my companion and I just got back from the temple and went straight to the lab, but I totally forgot to bring the piece of paper that had my Mom's email address! The only address I could remember off the top of my head was my own.  My first email from the MTC is to myself.  Oh dear.

First and foremost, I LOVE THE MTC!  My companion is Sister Bauer, from Orem, Utah, and the only weakness in our companionship is that we might have a little too much fun.  Yesterday we were both wearing long skirts and while we walked down the hall our skirts made this whump whump sound.  Sis. B's skirt was a little louder than mine so I bragged that if I walked a little faster my skirt would deafen her's.  I took a deep breath, stretched my arms, and then took two great long steps.  My efforts were rewarded with one very long rip down the middle of my skirt.  We laughed so hard we almost collapsed in the hallway.

My other roommates are Sis. Rovelsky and Sis. Evans. Here's a bit about them.

Sis. R: Her father once vomited on Mitt Romney.

Sis. E: She's from Canada. She thinks it's odd that there's so many American flags every where.

We've already taught four lessons in Korean to our little investigator (Ee yong ho).  Our "investigator" is actually a volunteer, and I know him from an old ward I was in.  We both smiled really big when I walked in, but stuck to our role play.  He's a good 'ol Korean. 

I love speaking Korean, and get so excited to learn every day!  Before I fell asleep last night I was whispering "I have a message about Christ," and "You want some food?" to myself in Korean.  Our district has the most sisters than any of the others and it's a spiritual fiesta every day.  We have only three Elders in our class and they make me laugh all the time.  Elder Lee was born in Korea, Elder Robinson studied at West Point, and Elder Greer was adopted from Thailand when he was four.  I've also made friends with some Mandarin speaking Elders at Gym Time and they've made me "their" official sister in our daily volleyball game. 

Holy cow, I only have 5 minutes and 43 seconds left to write!  Time honestly flies like a crazy thing here, Sis. B and I at the end of the day always stand by our beds and just smile at how quickly the days go by here. Actually, each minute is pretty slow but the day itself zips by like nothing...I don't know if that makes sense? All in all, I am so thankful to be here.  I'm in love with being a missionary.  Absolutely in love.

I need to get going but I love you all so much. 

Thanks again and again for the letters and packages!  My whole class and I have been inhaling the no-bake cookies.  I'm a celebrity among chocolate lovers here.

Love, love, love,

Sis. Washburn    





Good-byes!



Bekah's Officially a Missionary!

Bekah was set apart as a missionary Sunday night and will be entering the MTC this Wednesday, September 7th!

Most of her letters will be put up here, on her blog, so stay tuned...

Sending letters through http://www.dearelder.com/ is free and reaches her the next day, or you can send her a letter with her MTC address:

Her address in the MTC is:

MTC Mailbox # 161
KOR-SEO 1122
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

And once she's in Korea (end of November):

Korea Seoul Mission (Letters)

Gwanghwamun PO Box 210,

Jongno-gu

Seoul-si 110-602

South Korea

Korea Seoul Mission (Packages)

Samcheong-no 9 gil 45

Jongno-gu

Seoul-si 110-230

South Korea

GOOD LUCK, SISTER WASHBURN!

I haven't died!

Which is a relief.

In the place of an untimely death I've been busy with this:

 Denver Temple, August 9th 2011



Below is my Mom and Dad.

Oh, and my duck-shaped cloud just right of the temple.

Thanks for your support Eliza, Miriam, and Ammon!

I drove home August 6th, my whole life packed miraculously in my little yellow car.

Four hours into my eight hour drive, and with only 15 more miles left on the tank, I finally turned off the cruise control, took the next exit into Rawlins Wyoming, and pulled into a Flying J gas station to fill up. I opened my door to knock-ya-over winds and had to brace my self against my car as I searched for my credit card. Ten minutes later I was wishing the wind would knock over the whole fuel establishment. 

After swiping my credit card the pump asked for my zip code. Oh, okay. I thought. Umm, 80027. There you go. Then it asked if I was a value member. Value Member? No. Where's the 'no' button? Then it asked if I'd ever visited a Flying J station before. And if I liked the look of things. What? And would I ever be a Value Member? What's my favorite color? Will you be my best friend? Gah!

It was around this point that the computer blinked and then told me to go inside the service station. I huffed, got back in my car, and parked in front of the entrance. When I walked inside there was a huge line behind two cashiers. In the middle was a huge display of rotating roasted hot dogs. Seven minutes later I stepped up to the desk and smiled at the attendant.

"Sorry," I said. "I must have done something wrong. The pump won't let me gas up."

"Is this your first time?" she asked.

"Pumping gas?"

"At a Flying J."

"Oh," I blushed. "I guess, yeah"

She smiled and tilted her head toward the hot dogs. "Well, there you go!" she laughed. "We wanted to meet ya first!" 

We stared at one another for a moment. I blinked.

"Would you like a hot dog?" she asked.

She confiscated my license while I walked back out to my car. When I pulled back to a pump I had to wave at her watching me through the windows so she could push the button to let me begin. After filling the tank I got back into my car and pulled up to the service station, walked in, waited in line, got my license back,  No I'm sure, I really don't want a hot dog, walked out, got back in my car and drove away.

While I drove away I couldn't help but feel the same way I did when that teacher at recess 15 years ago forced me to play with the 'tattle-tale girl.' As soon as the teacher had walked away, the girl turned to me and my friends and said, "If you don't treat me like your best friend I'm telling about your hide-out behind the sappy tree."

Fine.

You're my best friend.

Here's a million dollars for gas.   

Other than that I've been busy helping Ammon move back out to school.

Hooray for BYU!



Giving my elbow the lime-light for once.

And setting fire to my Dad's birthday pie.



Life's grand, isn't it?

Go ahead.

Have a hot dog to celebrate.