First Week in KOREA!

Wahhhh!! I'm in Korea! I can still hardly believe it. It is soooo different, but I love it. I'm serving in Gwang-ju in the choong-jang ward.

To answer your questions:

My companion's name is Sister King. She is from L.A. and has been in Korea for 7 months. She is really nice and good at teaching. I'll send a pic of her in a bit.

Korea does smell like kimchi in some places, but it's not bad. I actually don't mind kimchi.

We are opening a new area along with a couple other sisters, so we just moved into a new apartment. We sleep on yohs (floor mats like the ones at Shelley and Keith's). We only had two between the 4 of us this week, so we were a little bit squished, but it wasn't bad. We're getting new ones tomorrow. We have a little kitchen (and finally went grocery shopping today, so we will actually eat this week haha).

We haven't gone to a bath house (yet!) My companion wants to go sometime--yikes! It will be quite an experience!

I have eaten some weird stuff...I ate crab meat right off the crab, lots of kimchi, and octupus ball things...don't know what they're called. I'm definitely geting less picky--I'll eat any food I can get haha. We haven't gotten fed by members, but I hear sometimes you get fed strange food.

I have seen a couple blondes, but they were foreigners. It's so strange to be a foreigner. I've never been a minority before. ha.

Church was good! ...I didn't understand anything...but the primary program was this week--Korean kids are the cutest ever! The members are really nice. I talked to a bunch of them (meaning I introduced myself, then nodded, smiled and pretended to understand what they were saying back to me). Elder Strohl is serving in the same ward as I am. There are 4 elders and 4 sisters serving in the choung jang ward (don't know how to spell). There was already a baptism this week--woo! I'm giving a talk next week--scary!!

Send letters to the mission home and they forward the letters to me. I have heard it takes about a week for letters to get here.

We do a lot of walking and use public transportation. I love talking to people on the bus and the subway. They mostly just get entertained by the the fact that a blonde, American girl is trying to speak Korean, but it's fun! I can only really talk about gospel topics, so I just jump right into showing them the Book of Mormon and talk about Jesus. It's great. Usually people are really nice, but sometimes they just turn away and refuse to talk to me. It's pretty funny.

I love the Korean people! There are so many differences and I am still getting used to everything.Things are very colorful and people are very busy. The grandmas and students are my favorites. I sometimes get stopped by grandmas who tell my I'm "yepp-a-yoh" (pretty). One lady stroked my face...a little strange, but hilarious. The boy students speak broken english to me and the girls giggle when I talk to them. It's fun.

I frequently get frustrated because of the language barrier, but I'm trying to be patient. This is hard! But each and every time I feel lonely or discouraged, the Lord helps me. I know that he is always with me. He loves me. I'm His daughter. He also loves His children in Korea, so I need to open my mouth and speak the limited Korean I know. I want these wonderful people to know that they have a Savior and Heavenly Father who love them so much! I wish they knew that the silly blonde, American girl has a message that will change their lives forever and bring so much joy.

I love you all! This week read the Book of Mormon every day and think of which friends you could refer to the missionaries! Referrals help sooo much! The gospel is true!

Sister Naatjes