Monday, January 12, 2015

In With the New!

안녕하세요! 

Greetings from SeongNam (성남)! My 4th area! 

This last Friday I hit my halfway mark on my mission! It's crazy how fast it's going by. Almost scary. But, I still have a while left^^ right? right. 

This week was such a long week . . . 
On Monday and Tuesday I said goodbye to my members/investigators and was busy packing packing packing. I went to the post office on Tuesday and mailed my suitcases to my new house for only about $18. Good price! 

On Wednesday I met my new companion, Sister Partridge, and we traveled to my new area! After we got a little settled in in my new house, I got to see a little bit of the area and we had a lesson with some amazing investigators and we had English class that night. Busy day! 

My area is so cool though. It's really hilly so I can already feel my legs getting a major workout. It's also the first area I've lived that doesn't have major apartment buildings! Most of the houses are villas. It's really cool and it just shows how diverse Korea is. I'll get a lot more photos of it next week. 

Then next day, Thursday, we had a mission-wide leadership training for all the Zone Leaders and STL's. It was definitely nerve-wracking for my first time. I am the youngest (mission age) Sister Training Leader and I just remember looking around and thinking "What am I doing here?" I just felt  overwhelmed. But, as the day progressed I began to feel more and more comfortable. By the next training conference I think I'll get the hang of it :) Sister Partridge says it's always a little nerve-wracking the first time. 

The next Sunday was church which means meeting a new ward and giving my 인사 말씀 (introduction talk). The ward is so amazing, I don't think I've every hugged so much on my mission. Koreans don't usually hug but it sure made me feel welcome :) The ward is pretty small but it makes it really easy to get to know everyone and build good relationships with them. 

That night we had dinner at the bishop's house and a lot of the ward was there too. One of the men there asked me about my hobbies and I said I really like music. He then asked if I could play the guitar - I said I could only play a little bit but the next moment he brought out two guitars and we played and sung "I'm a Child of God" and other traditional Korean songs like "Arirang" (they were all really impressed that I knew Arirang). 

Afterwards, like usual, Sister Partridge and I shared a spiritual thought which turned into a mini-testimony meeting where everyone got the chance to share their testimony. I'm still a little shaky on understanding 100% of what they said but I definitely got the gist of it and when the Spirit is there it doesn't matter what language you're speaking. 

....it's Monday. Our Preparation Day aka I'm going to take a nap and finally finish unpacking. 

And now, for a little segment I like to call "I took pictures of my new house so you all can see how I live": 


My desk!  And a very confusing map of our area!

This is our bathroom! Do you see a shower? No...but there is a shower head! 
I must say, it's nice to live in a 2-man house after living in two 4-man houses. 
More pictures to come next week :) 

I love you all!  
사랑해요!  
- Sister Holdaway 

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