Hello!
This week I got your Sept. 15th and 8th letters. Since you asked me to explain a little bit more about normal, everyday life, I'll do that, since this week was kind of crazy.
We had a member in our ward pass away - he was an older man, and has been sick for a while. He was a convert to the Church, and helped to translate D&C into Korean, as well as some of the hymnbook. He was the Stake Patriarch for some time as well - a lot of church members (Elder Cho said that a lot of area seventy members showed up) came to his funeral. We helped out there, which took up a couple of our days (traditional Korean funerals take 3 days - basically, people mourn, talk with the family, eat a lot of food the first couple of days, and the burial service is on the 3rd day).
That and General Conference kept us occupied for the last couple of days. It was good though - my branch president was nice enough to download the files and bring his computer so that I could watch the whole thing in English. I didn't fall asleep during any of the sessions, which is a big improvement from normal!
Oh, and this next Thursday we get out transfer calls. Trainers and trainees get split up, so either Elder Cho or I are getting transfered! Elder Cho's been here a long time, but I think trainees tend to be transferred, so we'll be excidedly waiting to see what happens.
So. About everyday life.
Our 영도 apartment is pretty big - when I went on exchanges, the other area's house was easily 1/2 the size of ours. No idea how big it all is, but we have a bedroom (when our very initial training was over, Elder Cho told me that we had beds in 영도, but it turns out it was just a mattress on the floor. It's comfortable, but it's not really a bed...), a study room, a closet room (don't know what it's called), bathroom, and kitchen/dining area, as well as some weird outside area that's never used.
I was suprised at how big the house was when I first got there - I was expecting a lot smaller! It's nice that we don't have to put away our beds every morning, and we have pretty nice (old, but nice) desks as well.
Since you asked, Dad, we have a washer in the previously mentioned weird outside area, so we do all our laundry at home. We then just hang it up to dry (usually on rack in our study room), so it's really convienient.
Cooking-wise, we have a 3-burner stove, a toaster oven, a microwave, and a toaster that's currently out of commission, to our great dismay (we eat a lot of toast). Most of the time, we just use the stove (Can't remember if I've mentioned this, but Elder Cho is a bit wary of the microwave. He says it's not healty, and I've only ever seen him use it to thaw meat. He prefers cold rice to microwaved rice.).
For shopping, we go to a local "Top Mart" (seems to be a pretty big grocery/supermarket chain in Korea or at least Busan), which is maybe a 5 minute walk from our house. They offer free delievery, so we sometimes just throw everything in a box, and they bring it to our apartment a couple of hours later.
I think Mom asked to hear a little bit more about Elder Cho, so here's a story...
It was pretty early on, maybe my fourth week in Korea, and we had a training meeting. We walked by this shack (Korea has little shacks just off to the side of the road - no idea what they're for) that had a dog tied to it. Elder Cho told me to pet the dog, saying "Oh, he is nicest dog. He is sooooo nice." I kind of shuffled over to the dog, who kept staring at me. I inched forward, looked at Elder Cho, who nodded. I went to pet the dog, and the dog exploded in barking; seriously, one of the scariest dogs I've ever met. He meant to kill me.
Elder Cho laughed for like the next 5 minutes.
He was not the "nicest dog!"
Anyways, Elder Cho is fun. Our personality is a little different obviously, but I think we're clicked much better during the past couple of weeks. It's too bad we'll be split up soon, but that's a part of missionary life I supposed.
I'm out of time, so I'll end it here. Thanks for reading all my emails and writing me! It's fun to be able to see how life is for all of you back home. Thanks for all your prayers - they help me out a lot, and I really need that help. Stay safe!
Love,
Elder Luke
Notes:
영도: Yeongdo, the area he's in.
Elder Cho: A different way of writing "Elder Jo." I don't know which pronunciation is closer to reality; maybe it's somewhere between an English "ch" and "j." Update: Korean speakers inform me that it's pronounced essentially like the English "ch."
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