So last Monday, we went and toured one of the many palaces here in Seoul. I will have to send pictures later but it was huge! We walked around for 2.5 hours and we didn't see everything. It was so much fun, but we didn't have enough time to go shopping... We ended up going to a little market and paying rediculous prices for everything. Can of spagetti sauce 3300won or $3.30. Yep, we are not going back there again, ever!
On Tuesday, we do service at a retirement home of sorts. The old people are so awesome! We made crafts with them and did puzzles, it was so much fun, I only which I could have helped by grandma with her puzzle better. Basically, when she got confussed and asked for help I said, 'maybe here?' becaus ethat is all I know when it comes to puzzles. After service they gave us a bunch of bread from a bakery that is all over Seoul. Paris Bargutte. We ate at this sandwhich place that I guess we are supposed to go to every week. The sandwiches are very cheap and the owner is super nice, she gave us free drinks to go with our sandwiches. Then we taught English which is supprisingly fun. I also gave the spritual message at the end...in korean...which was fun.
Wednesday, my companion was called a ginger, which is funny because he is. We also handed out flyers for the free English class that we teach. It was really weird because I was talking to girls.
-SIDENOTE- in korean culture, if a man approaches a woman it is generally excepted that the man is flittering with the woman. In order to prevent that, the past mission president said 'no talking with girls'. This however does not apply to handing out fliers for English class.-
Thursday we meet President Sonkson. He is super cool and is going to be a great mission president. But the highlight of the week was that night. We were eating dinner, wishing we had something to drink besides water...big mistake.
For all of you preparing to go on missions, save yourself the trouble and do not have this thought. So we leave the apartment and Elder Bishop gets a phone call, not thinking, he turns down the wrong road. He ends the call and keeps going. As we are walking, we see two old men struggling to move this big wooden chest. We ask if we can help and a women walking down the hill told us to go help them. We run and help them, but one of them disappears. When we finish, we are told that we can not leave because the other man went to get us drinks. At this point we are hot and sweaty and would just like a glass of water, but the man comes back with soda and expensive milk. The old men, at least in their late 60's then tell us to drink. Now in Korea, if an old person tells you to do something, you do it, but we really have to go.
So we end up drinking a bottle of super carbonated( Korean Soda is more carbonated than American) Orange Fanta and some other kind that tastes like Sprite in about 30 secs. Not smart, but the old men are almost in tears because they are so happy that we helped them and even more so for accepting their token of appriciation. We got away with not drinking the milk in front of them, but only under the condition that we take it with us. After asking them to meet the missionaries in the area that they are moving to, we headed down the road we wanted to go down originally. But this was up a super steep hill. By the time we made it up, we felt a little sick, but we keep going. While helping the old men, we missed a phone call, so Elder Bishop returned it. While he is on the phone, we pass two women, but in the fading light, it looks like one of them is a man. I say hello and the woman that I thought was a man responds. Then turns around real fast and starts talking to me. I still understand nothing but I act like I do because that is what I was told to do. You act like you understand them and then you testify about Christ and then they understand that you don't speak Korean. Well, she knows that we are missionaries.
SIDENOTE- After the conversation, Elder Bishop infortms me that she is a buddist monk.-
She says something about UTAH and BYU and I thought, "oh she is asking if I am going to go to BYU in Utah," luckily, I can respond to this. So we are talking and she motions up the hill and says something. I thought she said 'I am going this way, can you walk this way with me?' I agree, turns out she was asking if she could buy us something to drink... So we talk a little bit more and she stops at a convience store and I see her go to the drink section. I think to myself, I really hope she doesn't buy us something to drink. She ended up getting both of us orange juice and super expensive apple juice. Crazy right! well my companion was on the phone for this whole conversation and he tells me that the person he was on ther phone with wanted to take us out to dinner. It was a crazy night.
I know that God is always looking out for us and wants us to always be happy. If He could answer a small desire of our hearts, He will answer your concerns.
ON Friday we met a really cool kid, but as my companion was talking with him, a drunk man (there are a lot sometimes) stops me and wants to talk with me. Lets just say that it was really interesting to see him try to not fall over and he had a lot to say to me. The kid that we met though is super cool though. I really like him. He even tried to help me understand what he was saying.
Saturday was uneventful, except for English class.
On Sunday, I gave my welcome to the ward talk. But we also had a super awesome suprise. So we are greeting people at the door, all 8 missionaries in the ward, and this girl walks right up to the sisters and says 'I am looking for my God. I am from China. I want to be baptized today.' Yes that was rather exciting for the sisters, but it just tells me that there are many people ready and willing to come closer to God.
That is all I have for this week.
Love
Elder Brown
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