The last week of every transfer is famously known as the fastest weeks of a missionary's life (at least in my experience; sorry to all you missionaries out there who have it long). And it didn't change at all for this transfer. I honestly couldn't write this email without looking at my planner because I can't even remember what happened. It seems to be an increasing problem as time goes by. Or I might have some sort of missionary memory disease. If I start forgetting my companion's name I'll write out for help. I'm going to just look at my planner now...
Remember that drunk dude who picked us up last weekish? Yup, we called him. And then he called us back. And then we totally got an invite to his house for dinner this last Monday. Woooooo!! And I don't know if the man was still under the influence at that time but his personality was *exactly* the same. So much for our hopes of a more reverent man, haha. But that's okay, he still has potential, and his personality is pretty darn funny so it's all good. We got to meet his wife too, and she's super sweet. We weren't able to really talk about anything religious but they were definitely curious about what these two white dudes eating dinner at their table were doing in Korea. So we were able to explain what we do and who we are and they didn't kick us out so we're good to go. And they liked us enough to invite us again, and meet the other missionaries, so we got another appointment with them! They wanted to meet the other missionaries all at once so he invited us over to his apartment, fed us all chicken at a nearby restaurant, and then gave us grapefruit tea in their house. The sisters grabbed some plans to meet with his wife and this man still loves having us over and talking with us so it could turn into something really good. The real trick is going to be figuring out how we can sneak some gospel in there somewhere and spark his interest in that realm of things. His name is 안병술 (Ahn Byeong-Sur) and his wife's name is 정영순 (Jeong Yeong-Sun). More updates will come in the future...
We had interviews this week! It's actually not very much to talk about. Every interview my mission president did in my district was about 15 minutes (because this is the biggest district in the mission and he had meetings directly after the interviews). But talking with my mission mom was super fun, Sister Kim. it's nice because she actually does kinda have a motherly feel to her; very encouraging, very fun, very positive. We were able to talk about the mission too and what I think about it. I told her I've been really enjoying the mission and everything included in it and ever since I've been a trainee I've wanted to train, but when I'm *ready* (which by my definition might be never, hah). But then she told me that in the summer when half of our mission gets decimated and we have a complete half of new missionaries coming in is when I will be training. She didn't say "maybe" she said "will". So that was intimidating. I'm not sure what percentage of that statement I can take to be "100% *will* happen" but either way it was another wake-up call to start working hard, getting the right mindset, and pray harder to get good in Korean. So you can half expect a heart-attack from Elder Metcalf sometime within the summer of 2018.
Okay, I got to start wrapping this up so we're going to going into the speed round of things that happened this week:
- We met with a less active who's son is a recent convert and who also happens to be our mission mom's little brother. He's pretty less active. Like drink three bottles of alcohol in front us while we talk less-active. But he's *super* kind and generous, and realizes the importance of the gospel in his kids' lives so he's been thinking a little more lately about turning it all around. FUN FACT: He fed us so much that I felt the meal for two more days after actually eating it.
- We met a potential investigator who works at a company called "Atomy". This man and the rest of his crew were trying to sell us some stuff big time. It was kinda of funny actually. Two different sides, trying to share two different things, and both sides just hoping that they actually came to meet because of interest in what the other side has. Awkward. No sure what we're going to do with them...
- We met Elder Minson's recent convert this week. He came up from Busan to see Elder Minson because the man has been having a really hard time lately and Elder Minson seems to be one of the very few sources for help and support in his life right now. This guy is crazy generous. His only objective to coming up here was spending time with Elder Minson and treating the heck out of him. It was literally just us walking around for three hours, talking with him, and him spontaneously buying stuff for us. He got me stuff too, and I don't even know him. We felt kinda bad that he spent so much money on us after the whole thing but we knew it was his way of showing love so we tried our best not to feel sorry.
- Our miracle 현주관 (Hyun Ju-Gwan) came to church again and we were able to teach him about prayer. I was a little worried last week that he didn't really have much interest in the church itself from last time we met but then we tried inviting him to bowling with the other youth on Saturday and he was like, "Nah, I'm not really down for that, but I'll see at church tomorrow". So he's prepared. More updates will come in the future about him...
That's about it! Thanks for writing/reading! Have a good last week of January~~~
-Elder Metcalf
1) Super friendly street cat who came and chilled with me while I waited for my companion's bag to be sewn. 2) Some gifts from 안병술 (the one that invited us over to his house), his wife made them (she's an artist) 3) The fanciest, most expensive, and only raw fish I have ever eaten. Dinner with Elder Minson's convert 박면호 (Park Myeon-Ho). He flipped a coin and headed into the nearest restaurant and that was that. 4) Some pants that Elder Minson's convert bought me because he thought I need some exercise pants. They fit perfectly. And they are also "made for the Asian body", so this is the evidence that I have become one of the Koreans.
Also TRANFER NEWS!!!
I'm staying in Hogye with my same companion. Easy-peasy. Also I wanted to share a quote that I almost forgot to add. I was studying about conversion this week and I came across probably one of my favorite quotes I've found so far on my mission: "[Conversion] is a quiet miracle" - True to the Faith. I can't begin to explain how thankful I am for the quiet miracle that has occurred in my life and that continues to happen. Remember that conversion doesn't stop at just being a member. Love you all, 화이팅~
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