In Which Everything Changes Drastically and Sister Pak Has a Cow

RoseE writes:

"So the tricky thing about P-Day on Thursday and transfer calls on Friday and Transfer Day being not 'till the following Thursday is that I just have to know about and deal with the new state of affairs for a solid week before I can let y'all know about it at home.

So as quick as I can manage: Our area has been closed. I'm going to Ulsan, Sister Pak to Changwon. Sister Pak Seh Ra and Sister Ahn Ta Yeon, the other Taegu team, are covering all of Taegu for a while. We got this news and FREAKED OUT, because we have INVESTIGATORS who need HELP and SUPPORT and we love them and they love us and they NEED Sister Pak and WHAT are we gonna DO? Sister Pak even called Prez, begging to have the circumstance mitigated somehow. She cried most of the night and fell asleep holding my hand.

Next morning, we got another call from the A.P.s. Oh, by the way, you're BOTH the new Sister Representatives.

Aside: Sister Representatives (Chamei depyojas) are our mission's Girl Zone Leaders, kind of. They do splits with the sister missionaries and sort of keep tabs on the needs and mood of the female side of the mission, which they report to Prez. There are always two: one Korean and one Foreigner.

So hey, what the heck. we're the Chamei depyojas. Which is why we had to be sent to opposite ends of the mission. Thanks for remembering to tell us that last night when we were bawling our eyes out, APs.

So in the new system we've got the better part of a week to wrap things up in our old area before we transfer. Which ended up meaning that we ate LOTS of food with people. Because goodbye isn't goodbye without FOOD. We even got taken to a beef buffet, where we ate what I'm fairly sure was an entire cow of Korean Beef, which is about the most expensive food known to man. I ate what I think was steak tartar (it was cut up and not cooked), and what I know was raw marinated beef liver and shredded beef tongue. They ain't kiddin' about this cow thing.

But yup. So now I'm in Ulsan, which is on the east coast of Korea. I have heard they eat whales here, but missionaries seem to be able to avoid this. My new companion is Sister Pak Min Jeong, a very competent and able sister who is on her last transfer. Sister Pak Sung Hee is serving with Sister Ogelvie, my bestest mission friend. And for the first time in eight months, we have new American sisters. I met one today: a sister Chon (Korean heritage, but not a word of the language) from D.C. That was a strange experience. I'm the big kid on the playground now. And Sister Pak Sung Hee's old trainee, Sister Beh In Yeong, is trainging Sister Chon so Sister Pak is officially a grandma. Weird.

Once again, hate to do this but gotta fly. Next week I will do all within my power to get out a proper long epistle with some video in it. I love you all so much and pray for you every day! Let me know how things are going with Bethe's health. Mom, I'm glad you had a grand old time bagpiping! Dad, letter in the mail shortly.

Love you

RoseE"