Korea from a Distance

I am a long time in getting these up on Sister Westrup's blog.  I'm not sure what a lot of these pictures are.  Some are of her and her companion, Sister Bush.  Some are of the elders serving in their area.  A lot are of the area she is serving in, Suwon.  

Transfer 2, WEek 6, The End of Bustrup (Sister Bush and Sister Westrup)

Dear Family,

 

Sister Bush is leaving this week and I am so distraught about it. I kept having nightmares about getting new companions that didn't like me. Ok, that's an exaggeration. I only had one dream that I got a new companion that didn't like me. And it wasn't scary enough to really qualify as a nightmare. The AP called this morning with the name of my new companion. We were totally at the bath house when we got the call. In fact, we had just opened our lockers to put our clothes back on when the phone rang. I think the Elder would have been mortified if he knew where we were.... Oh well... SO my new companion's name is Sister Eggbert. I met her briefly at the Christmas party. She's really nice. The only thing I know about her is that she's from Idaho. Which is perfect because my very favorite people are from Idaho (Ali, Jette... etc...) so we should get along smashingly. She seems a little quiet. Which only worries me because Suwon is so CRAZY. Sister Bush said it's the craziest area she's ever served in. The weirdest stuff happens to us here. I think it might be because we're so close to Seoul. And the fact that crazy drunken old men just love her hair. (She has to keep it up most days for our safety).

 

A miracle happened yesterday. THE OLDER KOO SISTER CAME TO CHURCH! Your prayers worked! Now just keep praying they both come next week, and that they keep coming so they can get baptized. Sister Bush spoke because it was her last Sunday. :0( So the ward also fed us lunch. It was curry. And it was delicious. I think Katie (that's the English name we gave her because she loves Tom Cruise) really liked Sacrament meeting. The sisters in the ward put on a special musical number. She said she got goose bumps during the singing. But it wasn't goose bumps. It was totally the Spirit. The younger sister, Sunny, was sick. So she couldn't come to church. We think that their parents might be opposing the church a little bit. They still want us to meet with them because of the English. But we're not sure how they feeling about the religion aspect of it. But the sisters are still reading the Book of Mormon really well. We're going to have baptisms next transfer. I just know it. We just love those sisters sooo much. They're going to be great memebers of the church. Especially Sunny.

 

Our dinner appointments this week weren't too crazy.... Well, they kind of were. There's this YSA brother that likes to feed the missionaries. He went to BYU-H, and has perfect English. Kind of.  He took us and the Elders out last Monday night. And then proceeded to tell us all of his dating woes. Loudly too. It was hilarious. He kept on saying things like, "I really shouldn't say this, because sisters are here... But...." And then we had dinner with the fun couple (the wife wouldn't let the Elders do the dishes). Sister Ahn was tired. So she caved and let the Elders do the dishes, but then she laughed to us behind their back and said that she was just going to do them again later because she needed to heat up some hot water.... Poor Elders.

 

This last week, we had such an adventure trying to find the place where we're supposed to register. We ended up finding it after it was closed. And we still haven't registered. But we started door knocking at this place that seemed a little bit more run down... Even for Korea. There were a lot of old poeople that lived in this building. I knocked on this door. And when I offered this lady a pamphlet, she started crying and said she couldn't read because she grew up during the way and girls weren't allowed to read, but they were made prostitutes for the Japanese. And her husband and son died during the war. And so she's just all alone. And then we taught her a short lesson about how Heavenly Father loves her. And she said we were good people, but then she just started crying harder because she said we were her guests but she had nothing to offer us. It was really sad.

 

Another day, we met this man. We didn't catch his name, so we just call him Simon. We knocke on the door. And he was alone. He wanted us to come in. But we couldn't without a woman being there. So he just talked to us right in his living room while we stood outside. He LOVES everything American. And he asked some really good questions about why we should believe in Jesus Christ, and why we should believe in God. I think the answers to that are pretty simple. Belief in God gives us direction in life. A sense of purpose, an identity. Life without belief in God would be so dark I think. And God has given us so many things, it seems only natural that we would want to serve him by serving our fellow man and follow His commandments. Anywho, Simon only had five teeth. He was a retired professor. And we're sending the Elders back to follow up. We thought he might come to church. But he didn't....

 

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the meds and how they're working out. I think the steroids are helping. I mailed the MRI results to Dr. Jackson last week though. I'll just have to wait and see what he says. I tried hiking a little bit last P-day, and then running the next day in the morning. Probably not the best idea. But things don't hurt like they used to. The other stuff seems to be working too. I'll know next week. Did mom hear from Dr. Kopecky?

Good luck with surgery next week Mom!

 

Here are some pictures of our p-day adventure last week. We went hiking around the giant wall all around the city. There was a spot with an archery range. But we couldn't do it because our District Leader said it was techiniqually a fire arm.... boooo.

 

Oh, stuff I need if you can send it: Harrison's address. More mittens like the ones I got at Christmas (those saved my life mom thaaaaaaaank you soooo much!), and Uno. Koreans love to play it but it's hard to find here, and really expensive.

I Knew You Would Freak Out...

Dear Family,

I am fine! Don't worry about me. Last week, I went to the Seoul again. They found some fluid around my hip joint. The Korean doctor didn't seem to think that it was a problem at all. He told me to just take some anti-inflammatories. I told him that I already did. But he said to just try it and then come back in three weeks. But when I picked up my perscription, I found that the doctor did not in fact perscribe anti-inflammatories, but he perscribed me STEROIDS AND AN OPIATE. My companion was excited for me to take the opiate as I had told her many stories about my MTC experience on Peraset. But since it's a different opiate than peraset, I have a different reaction to it. I just fall asleep. Which was not a probalem before. So I don't take it very often. But really, I am so great! SO don't worry!

 

This last week we had a couple miracle lessons with the younger Koo sisters. There's a rule that whenever we teach someone who's under 16, we have to have an adult there. Last Tuesday, we could not find a female adult to help us teach at all. We were asking everyone. A few weeks ago, we met the stake president's daughter at a stake activity. She just got home from her mission in Pusan. She said that if we ever needed help teaching, we could ask her. So even though she lived an hour away, and isn't in the wards we serve in, we asked her to help. It turned out to perfect because the younger Koo sister (who is only 10) started asking questions about evolution! And our member, who is an amazing missionary, knew exactly what to say. It was so interesting. It seemed like we were going to find a member to help us teach, but we ended up finding the perfect member to teach with us.

 

On Saturay, Sunny called us and told us she could met that afternoon after all. There was no way we could find a member, so we asked if she could bring her older sister. But the oldest sister is still sick. Fortunately, the middle sister is visiting from China, and she came to the lesson. We didn't have a lesson planned because she had called us while we were at another appointment and we came straight to teach her from there. But we followed up on a committment we'd given her earlier in the week to share her testimony with her family. So she shared it with the middle sister right in front of us. That little girl is so ready to get baptized! She loves reading Book of Mormon stories. She told her sister that at first she thought it was weird, but since she keeps reading it, she knows it's true.

 

The only problem is we can't seem to get them to church. Last Sunday, they were visiting their Grandma's grave. But they promised they would come this next Sunday because it's Sister Bush's last. (I'm so sad to see her go. I don't know what I'm going to do without her. She's been such a good trainer and companion)

 

So, in conclusion, there is nothing to worry about here! I'm still working hard. I'm so happy you're having missionary opportunities as well. There is nothing like being part of the experience when a soul becomes closer to Jesus Christ. Keep up the good work!

 

사렁해요!

웨스트럽 자매

Nothing much of consequence has happened since last Thursday. Friday was taken up with lessons and planning meeting. Saturday was more studying and proselyting. Saturday night we had dinner with one of our favorite investigators. She can't come to church right now because she works Sunday mornings at the hospital. We walked up to her door Saturday night and there were no lights on anywhere. Sister Bush knocked. But there was no answer. So she knocked again. Then she knocked a third time. Our investigator finally answered. She's been working so hard, I'm afraid she's worn a little thin. Her house is a little small, and whenever we come over, she usheres us into her bedroom/living room. And bundles us up right in her bed. This time was no exception. She was so tired though! I felt so bad. But it's offsensive if we ask them not to cook for us. Koreans are so generous. She started spreading out newspapers and cardboard on the floor. I had no idea what was going on. I turned to Sister Bush. "It's for the grease" she said. And then, our investigator brought in a little burner. Only, it seemed a little broken. It wouldn't turn on. When it finally did turn on, the flames were SO HIGH. Like a FOOT HIGH!!!!!! And then little spurts of gas would go through the burner and the flames would get even higher. In my mind, I was strategizing was to put out the fire if one should start. I honestly thought we were going to get burned. There we were huddled in this Korean woman's bed while she started to cook us duck meat on her bedroom floor. DUCK MEAT IS SSSSOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!  She also gave us tons of different types of Kim-chee and fried rice. And then she started telling us about this Alien movie from the 80's. I didn't know what was going on. But she was so animated and explaining things in such detail that it was terrifying Sister Bush. (sigh) another hilarious Korean dinner appointment. We learned that night (as this sister is very informative and tells us all the dietary benefits of the food she gives us) that duck meat is very healthy. It has good oils. You can tell because they don't harden in room tempature. What she neglected to tell us was that duck meat can make a person extermely.... gassy. A fact that Sister Bush and I very well learned that night..... But I think that is all I will reveal on that account.

 

Sunday was a little frustrating. The Koo sisters have promised so many times that they will come to church. Sometimes they have legitmate excuses. But they didn't this Sunday. They promised us they would come. They promised the member that we teach with that they would come. Sunday morning, we texted and called the older one every 15 minutes. She never answered. But every other day of the week, she always answers her phone. We see here every day of the week except for Mondays and Sundays. It's so strange. She tells us everyting, but we can't get her to tell us the real reason why she won't come to church. We know if she comes, the little sister will come to. She's come once herself already.

Sometimes when people use their agency, it's frustrating.

 

Today I read a really good talk from the April 2011 General Conference: Waiting on the Road to Damascus by President Uchtdorf. One thing he said that really stuck out to me was that we covenant to be sensitive to the needs of those around us, and then minister to those in need. I was a couple times in the MTC that I have a talent for sensing the moods and needs of those I care about. But it's been harder for me here because even though I sense the needs of the ward members, I'm not so good at the follow through because my Korean is so basic. But that is something that I'm not going to let hold me back any more! The Spirit will always make up for the Korean I like. So that's my challenge to you this week. Be sensitive to the needs of those around you and try to meet them. When I've done this in the past, I've been able to experiece some of the most beautiful moments of my life, trying to be an insturment in the hands of God.

 

That's all for this week!

 

But before I sign off, some pictures!

 

THere's a few of my district from a couple weeks ago. We were playing a really fun game called BANG! It's an American game. Trying to learn it is always really complicated. But once everyone figures out how to play it's really fun. We also have a ping pong table inside the church. It's LEGIT. (I do not play however as I am un coordinated. I tell the Elders it's because of my hip... not true). The other pictures of of TACO BELL in Seoul. We'll have some more of it on Thursday. And we also made a quick little stop to see the Seoul temple. It's in such a busy city, but it's some how so secluded and peaceful. I think that might be all the pictures....

 

Tell Russell and Crystelle good luck with the baby. I hope she's doing well.

 

웨스트럽 자매