RoseE writes:

"Dear Mum and Dad,

Like, pet mice, or like "OH GAAAAAAHHHH IT'S MICE!!" mice*? How big are the lizards**? Can you sic the lizards on them? I'm sure Soxie's*** being no help at all--not a mouser, really. More ornamental than useful, as far as cats go.

I'm also intrigued by Cuin's lizards' sibling rivalry issues, that they need constant supervision. Hmmmm.

I need to work up a Santa Lucia# scheme. Of course, Santa Lucia Day is after Transfers, so who knows where the heck I'll be, so maybe I shouldn't make too many plans too fast. Both Sis. Pak and I are hoping and praying that we both stay, as we've got a lot of good stuff happening and we want to be around to see how it plays out. And Sis. Jennings keeps promising to come up to Taegu on a P-Day and go shopping at Seomun Market with us, but she hasn't had a P-Day free in two transfers. Hmph.

Oh, I got your package safely this week, and have obediently stuck it under my desk to await my actual birthday, when I will be . . . twenty-five. Just like I am right now. Korean "age" is a strange bird.

So last week the big news was . . . Hyeon Ji got baptized. Yeah. She didn't even have a baptismal date at time of last e-mail. It all happened pretty quickly . . . she decided she wanted to get baptized on Thursday, on which day Sis Pak was on splits in Ulsan (I was with yet another Sis. Pak, Sis. Pak Min Jeong), so we had only part of Friday (most of the day was riding buses back and forth from Ulsan to get MY Sis. Pak home) and all of Saturday (minus everything else we have to do on Saturday, including teaching Hyeoh Un and teaching Jungni ward English class) to get her baptismal service put together and the interview done and everything. Fortunately, the new bishop (he's FANTASTIC) and our ward mission leader (ditto) really pulled through, as did the Spectacular Sister Tollet (chocolate chip cookies), and everything was great in a very short period of time. The time crunch was because in two days Hyeon Ji goes into the hospital for pretty major knee surgery, and will be holed up in there for a good couple of weeks. So she got confirmed at the baptismal service, which is not usual for converts' baptisms (usually they're confirmed in Sacrament meeting the next week). So while she's recuperating we'll teach her the new member lessons and hopefully she'll be off to a good strong start with a brand-new knee and brand-new baptsimal covenants well before the turn of the year.

Hyeon Ji's really shy. But really. It may come from being less than five feet tall (she's a tiny little thing). I was amazed that she worked up the nerve to be baptized, and held onto it when she saw that most of the ward had showed up for her baptismal service (as well as a LOT of missionaries and some members from other wards, as the service was right after stake conference). Her uncle, with whom we've been teaching her, baptized her. This was the fist baptismal service I've been able to watch from 'backstage' . . . . the first baptism I've seen of a sister whom my team has taught. It's a humbling thing. I mean, we just said some stuff, and prayed a bit, and she up and decided to change her whole life AND allow herself to be dunked underwater in front of about a hundred people. Once again, I feel like none of this can really be my doing. I'm still just watching in awe and confusion as the work of the Lord goes on around my head.

And it's continuing to go on. We think that little Hyeoh Un will probably be ready to be baptized in the next couple of weeks . . . we taught her everything, and she's accepted and is living it all. We're mostly waiting for a free Sunday, since the Elders have I think two baptisms already planned. (Cool, huh?) Student Ju Hyeah is also still doing well, and is thinking ahead to her own baptism. And this week we FINALLY managed to meet with a young woman named Ryu Nah Hi, who stayed with an LDS host family while visiting Utah and was impressed with what they lived and believed. We've been trying to meet her for weeks but keep just barely missing her. But she's really eager to learn what we have to teach, and we've got high hopes for her. So yeah, not a dull moment around here. (Except on the bus back from Ulsan, when I got to TAKE A NAP! A NAP! It was GLORIOUS!)

We had dinner at the Tollets' last night (bless this wonderful family) and there were two big bowls of mashed potatoes.

I had three helpings.

Sis. Pak had one and said it was really good, but I don't think she quite gets what I see in them. I've tried to explain gravy several times, but it never quite comes out right.

Anyway, shorter than usual this week, sorry. Everybody's fault but mine, as everything always is, of course. I love you! Happy Thanksgiving! I'd tell you to tape the Macy's Parade, but . . . well, have fun watching it, anyway. The Military Branch is making Thanksgiving Dinner for the entire zone (that's 22 missionaries, most of them hungry American boys and one of them a Korean who has never SEEN turkey. Never. Except on t.v.).

Oh, and it suddenly got warm again. I'm not getting this Korean weather thing.

Love you

RoseE"



* we have mice

**lizards - we are watching her uncle's kids' pets for the holiday

*** our 15-year-old cat

# Santa Lucia Day: a Scandanavian Christmas holiday, December 12