Sunday, May 18, 2014

spicy noodles.

                                         jjam bblong….yum!


Dearest family-
mom. This week, I found the stash of maple pecan sea salt  KIND bar goodness that I had been saving. and then I ate them all in like two days. it was delicious.
It was another wonderful week here in Dap-dong! I can't believe that I skyped you all just last week. So much has happend since last p-day! we finished out the day by going to Costco and eating pizza and chicken bakes. yum.
We are trying to figure out our area...which has been quite the project. The first obstacle is that we don't actually live in our area. It takes about 30 or 40 minute bus ride to get into Dap-dong area. Secondly, the address system in Korea has changed, but now they are really pushing for everyone to follow it. We only have the member's addresses with the OLD system, but our map uses the NEW system. does it make sense? ya, a little confusing. Thirdly...our map is in three different books. SOOOOOOOOO it is a little difficult. Anyway. We tried to visit several less-actives on Tuesday. and it took 4 hours to find one house and make a VERY WORTH IT visit to Sister Wang. It was the coolest. We finally find her door, a little yellow-painted metal deal, tucked behind some bigger buildings. We start knocking...and knocking...and calling her name. no answer. maybe she cound't hear us? and just then, her son walks out! who is also inactive! yessssss. he lets us in and we got to talk with his mom. She feels really guilty about her family not being active in the church, but I think she still believes. We didn't stay long, just long enough to tell her that she could be "in" the church again and how much we would love to see her there. She has such a tough life...her husband has been in the hospital because he drank too much and almost died. Her sons are also inactive and the youngest one, my same age!, is making some pretty poor choices. We sang a hymn together, said a prayer, and made a note to visit her weekly as much as we can.
on the way home, we saw this dry-cleaning shop full of grandmas. They started speaking to us in English ("Hello!" "I love you!" that kind of stuff). nothing like a bunch of Korean grandma's to make you feel good about yourself ^^
we had a LESSON! on Wednesday. it was kind of crazy, but that's ok. A few weeks ago this woman called the elders to let them know she was coming to our church. and she did. Apparently, she had met some elders and loved how happy and clean they were. We met her and her son outside the subway station. She just chatted the whole time, took us to McDonalds, and sent us upstairs (the fast food places here often have two levels). With her son. That was awkward. to add to the awkwardness, there were SO many high school students that he knew there, and he was super embarrassed. he pulled his hat down as far as it would go trying to hide from them. What? its not cool to be seen at McDonalds with your mom and two sister missionaries?! It turns out that she has no gospel interest, but she really wants her son to be with the missionaries and learn from our examples. (he doesn't want to go to college...hates to study...just wants to hang out with his friends all the time...ya know. high school boy ^^) She kept telling him to look at us and be like us. The best part was, she kept calling us 누나 nu-na, which means older sister. I love that about Korean culture! it was such a funny meeting.
Food of the week.........짬뽕!!! jjam bbong. it is this really spicy seafood soup. I was kind of proud of myself for eating the whole entire giant huge bowl. there where crabs, just cut in half and you suck out the meat. and shrimp. and clams. and octopus. and muscles. and noodles. and veggies. it was actually delicious! and they were really impressed with Sister Nebeker's eating skills. what a good greenie!
Due to our...um...lack of investigators (yay opening!) we made it a goal to visit every Relief Society Sister in our ward. Just like Sister Goines and I did in Pyeong-taek area. and it has been going really good! my favorite visit this week was on Friday. We called this elderly sister to ask if we could drop by in about 10 minutes. She didn't sound too happy about that. But, when we arrived, she really just felt bad that she had nothing to feed us. Ah. So adorable. She gave orange juice instead. So, of course, we told her that we were so full and the juice was perfect. I secretly hoped she couldn't hear my stomach growling! They were the cutest couple...so full of faith. and they just loved each other. The husband is a little hard to understand because of his stuttering, but by the end of the visit, I could understand him. which was neat. He talked to me a lot about how special and sacred my missionary time is...about how much of a sacrifice it is, how it can be really difficult sometimes. But it is the time of the most growth and feeling the Spirit. it is the happiest time. I just about cried. I am so grateful for this sacred time and cannot believe that it will have to end. I am grateful for little reminders of how much it means to me.
oh yeah! we had TWO lessons this week! the second sister is really interested in the gospel, even though her husband hates it. She is a former investigator that the elders called and then gave to us. She is so sweet and seems genuine in her desire. plus, she loves us. we are excited to meet with her again!
I love you all! the work is moving forward here. I am so grateful to be a part of it. The Lord is leading this work. I know it!
xoxo, Sister Bassett

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