Hi Mom!
It sounds like the family is having a lot of fun at home. I can't believe you and Dad got pedicures together! That's so cute!
I already asked Elder Asay if he is related to our Asays, but he said no. And I don't think he's related to Sister Asay...who I've seen pictures of, but haven't met. So this week was exciting. It went by so fast! On Monday night we had a shiksa with the stake president's family. He just got called as an area seventy! We had Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday and got a new stake presidency. A younger man in the Daemyong ward was called as stake president! Everyone was surprised, but the members seemed excited. They all really like him. Elder Evans (an area seventy) and our mission president (Jennings) spoke. Pres. Jennings's Korean is amazing! Elder Evans talked about spending wisely especially with the current economic situation. It's crazy how the crisis which started in American in September has had a huge effect worldwide...that continues on even months later. Sometimes I wish I knew more of what is going on, but I know that would just take my concentration away from missionary work! I would like to hear more about this swine disease, though. We heard that 100 people died in Mexico.. .that's scary..
On Tuesday we had zone conference. I had to give an intro talk. I started out in Korean, but spoke in Korean and English for the rest. But it was great because the other new missionaries had to start out in Korean too! (No problem for Sister Jung!) After zone conference I went on my first split to Ulsan. I spent Wednesday with Sister Lee, (the first whole day with a Korean companion). It was hard to understand each other (each other's Korean, each other's English), but it was a really good experience. Half the sisters are foreign, half are Korean, so I'll definitely have a Korean companion at least once. So that was good prep! We met with a 19 year old Filipino girl who got married to an older Korean man. She doesn't know Korean- she and her husband communicate in English (but he knows very little). Sister Lee and I taught her Korean (I use "I" lightly). It was fun to see how we could make it work- especially when we were writing out pronunciations! Sister Lee would say the word, ask me how I would write the pronunciation, and our student and I would write it together. And let me tell you, romanizing Korean (English letters) is not easy! This week was not terribly lucky. I managed to erase all the pictures on my camera. Ay-yi-yi! Don't mess with camera options, that's all I can say. So I will get pictures to you eventually, but I have to wait until I can get them from my companion! Oh and today I went hiking! It was fun. And interesting. I'll have to write more about it next time.
Love you all!
Dad, I don't know anything about Gumi but I'll ask around about it.
I love you!
Alyssa