In Which It Rains on Buddha's Lanterns and Sister Kim Yoon Ai Decides to Read the Book of Mormon Again

RoseE writes:

"Well, another week in Ulsan with not very much that's very exciting happening. Tomorrow is Buchonim Oshin Nar, or 'The Day that Bhudda Came,' Buddha's birthday. There are lanterns up all over the place, which is very pretty. We're hoping to catch a parade or something, if we guess right where it's going to be and when.

Tuesday was the monsoon season opener. It Poured. But Poured. All Day. Sis. Culver and I went slogging through the streets looking up old addresses and got ourselves just as drenched as drenched can be. I'm going to have to start switching off black and brown shoes, giving each pair a chance to dry before I use it again. I might also have to start walking a little bit less . . . I've been proving myself to be My Father's Daughter and have been walking fairly well everywhere, spending in impulse-buy ice cream bars what I save in bus fare. Grr.

Oh, and this week I sent home a box of randomness. Most of it isn't very interesting randomness--clothes I like but can't use through the end of my mission, coming-home presents (but you don't know which one's for who yet, so don't touch), books and notebooks and such. I slow-boated it, though, so I may beat it home. There is a box of cookies on the top of everything that y'all can eat.

I sucessfully made kimchi chigae this week. It was spicy as blazes, but it tasted good.

I accidentally told Elder Bocchino over the phone last night that I really dislike the song 'Hey There, Delilah,' having listened to it about 300 times too many. He promptly started singing it to me. I hung up on him. He called back ten minutes later and immediately started singing it again. I hung up again. Then I got a call from Elder Wells. "Hey, Elder Bocchino says I'm supposed to sing you a song." "Is it 'Hey There, Delilah'?" "Um . . . yeah. He said you'd hang up on me." "Let's tell him that you sang it and that I hung up on you, okay?" "Okay. Deal." I love our elders.

Investigators . . . no strong progressors this week. Working and hoping, false starts and fresh attempts. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens. Oh, but Kim Kyeong Bin got a job at the district president's new robot academy so she's no longer unemployed and doesn't have to work on Sunday, and Yoon Mi Hyeah is getting her father's, grandfather's, and great-grandfather's records ready to be taken to the temple. Sister Ii Jeong Im, a slightly nutty member sister who always comes to English class and thinks that Buddha is the devil (ummm . . .), painted four of my fingernails yellow. Just four. VERY yellow. OH, and Sister Kim Yoon Ai, a lovely less-active sister who is 100% not progressing towards coming back to church but loves having the sisters visit and teach lessons, told us yesterday, "So I was thinking I want to start reading the Book of Mormon over again. I don't remember it very well from back when I got baptized, and I read it fast so I didn't much understand it because it is so difficult." Sis. Culver and I tried to not explode with excitement. Reading the Book of Mormon! She wants to read the Book of Mormon again! This is SUCH a big deal, particularly for her. She seemed surprised by our suggestion that this desire to read had come to her through the Holy Ghost. "The Holy Ghost is a . . . like a warm feeling, right? It wasn't that, it was just a thought." But it was a really, really good thought, one that I absolutely know she wouldn't be thinking on her own at this point. "The Holy Ghost comes as thoughts too, Chamenim. Any thought that encourages us to do something good comes from God. That's revelation."

Oh, another revelation: today I ate a Monte Cristo* and it was SOOOO good.

Sis. Culver is a sport, and we're getting along swimmingly. Transfer calls are tomorrow; crossing our fingers that we all get to stay (though I think the only person in real danger is Sis. Yoon).

Love you all so much! Talk to you next week!

RoseE"

*no idea. Post anything that you know.