Korea Seoul South Mission: Week 54

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Nothing new happening here in Suji. This past week was really hard as we still haven't been able to find much success. We spent more time out on the streets, but it just seemed like no one had interest in what we have to share. But on the bright side I did hear some awesome news! A referral that we gave to another team of missionaries in a different area is getting baptized. The investigator and his mom didn't seem to have much interest when we first met them, but the Elders in the other area were able to teach him and set a baptismal date! We had originally found him and his mom through a former investigator that we contacted my first week in Suji. It took some time to see the results, but the wait is always worth it.

I also realized last week that I never finished my story... so going back to the 95 year old man that collapsed while we were visiting his less-active wife. So after he collapsed onto the floor he stayed there for about 10 seconds just crouched on the ground. Then he started creepily crawling over to the table where Sister Hansen and I were sitting. Since the room was very dimly lit he basically looked like the grudge coming straight for us! My heart dropped and I had the thought that I was going to die. He stopped about a foot in front of us and then just crouched there for a few more seconds. He sat down and then reached out for us. He shook each of our hands and then made us hold each other's hands. All during this time his wife walked to the kitchen so I turned to start talking to her when I felt his hand on my leg, slowly moving up my thigh. I turned back and Sister Hansen's eyes were huge as she watched him touch my leg. I quickly pushed his hand away, but he didn't even notice that I had done that. He continued to sit there while trying to speak to us in Korean, but it was to jumbled to understand. After trying to communicate a bit he got frustrated and went back into the other room after grabbing some alcohol from the fridge. Sister Hansen and I were both super nervous the entire time, but things got better once he left.

Anyways we went back to visit that less-active again this past week, but made sure to go in the middle of the day. We did a bit of street contacting on the way and then got to her house around noon. She invited us in and we had a good chat with her. Her husband was also home, but luckily this time he wasn't drunk so he just said hi to us and then stayed in the other room. We hadn't eaten lunch yet (worst decision ever) so when she asked us if we had lunch we couldn't lie and say yes. She ended up feeding us this really gross fish stew and a few other Korean dishes that weren't to bad. Neither of us liked the food though so it was a little rough trying to eat it all. She didn't seem to upset that we didn't eat a lot though. She is a super sweet old grandma that we will continue to visit and love.

Another update from Korea could be that we have a Book of Mormon shortage. Our mission has really been focusing on giving out more Books of Mormon on the street and we have given almost all of them out. Our President had to talk with some people about getting more, but for now we are out. We have had to change our focus now to only give them out during our first appointments with people unless they have a lot of interest on the street.

This past Saturday we also did a proselyting activity with the YSA of our ward and a few of the young men and women. It poured rain the entire time! It is now 장마철 (Monsoon season) so it will be constantly raining for the next few weeks. Korea is in serious need of rain so hopefully it will rain a lot. The proselyting activity went really well. We were able to build really good relationships with our ward members and we found a few people that have really good interest. One women is from Spain and is teaching at a university here for 3 years with her husband. She said that she knew a lot about our church because some of her family members are Mormon. She didn't know that the church was here in Korea so she asked us to send her the address.

Our ward also called a new ward mission leader. We are so excited to work with him! He is so amazing and has already showed us how dedicated he is to serving with us. His kids are adorable and love the missionaries.

The entire week was pretty boring, but the past weekend has been jam packed. Yesterday as we were on our way to the new ward mission leaders house we got a panicked call from the other sisters. We quickly ran over to the church and found Sister Clarke on the ground with blood all over her leg. Since it has been raining so much she slipped and got some nasty road rash on her left leg. We didn't have anything to clean it with so we called the elders who were already at our ward mission leaders house. He drove them to the church and then went out to get some supplied to clean her wound with. We waited and then helped clean her up before heading to our ward mission leader's house for dinner.

One success that we found this week was being able to pick up a new investigator. Her name is DamHee and she is 11 years old. She has been coming to church for the past month with a member, but we haven't been able to teach her until yesterday. I am so excited to teach her! I love teaching younger people because they are so open to learning and you can really tell that they can see the truth in the gospel. Sister Hansen are so excited to get to know her more and help her learn about Heavenly Father.

Things are normal, but also crazy at the same time. Time is passing by so quickly and I feel like I can't keep up. Sister Hansen is amazing and I am so lucky to be serving with her. Even though things are hard she is always there to laugh, cry, and have fun with me.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Love ya!

-Sister Rindlisbacher