I was wrong when I said that last week was the hottest of the summer... My companion and I are tempted to go sleep at the church every night because our house doesn't have any air conditioning. But we're surviving.. And we're happy.
Some things from this week:
My older Sister Corinne got married this past weekend, so congrats to her! The subject in church yesterday was marriage and family- Without fail, all the Korean people freak out when they hear both how many kids Americans have and how young they get married. I think the average marriage age in Korea is close to mid 30s.. One tradition in Korea is to make sure that before the couple gets married, they try to buy a house and several other things first, so saving up for that can often take a long time.
We also had several experiences with foreigners who were very good at Korean:
Missionaries met a guy named Tamer from Egypt a while back, and we were able to meet with him again this week. He's lived in Korea for 16 years, so he is fluent at English, Korean, and his native language Arabic. He is a devout Muslim and has been his whole life, and he is just the nicest person I've ever met. He loves his family and is working for a better future for his kids, and he just believed that none of us should judge each other and just love everyone. One thing I've been privileged to do while serving as a missionary has been to meet so many great people, both inside and outside my faith, that teach me how to be a better person, I'm grateful for that.
The other foreigner who was amazing at Korean was Mark Peterson, a professor of Korean at BYU. He was one of the first missionaries in Korea, and he spoke in Suwon yesterday. We were able to bring someone named 한동균 (Han Dong Gyun), who we have been teaching for a while now. He enjoyed it, and as we have been meeting with him, he has grown to love the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
One thing that I have been grateful for this week is opportunities to serve others. As missionaries, we try to serve other people at every opportunity, but a lot of people tend to be very independent and refuse any of our help. But this week, we were able to find random service opportunities, whether it was helping somebody on the street lift a bookshelf, or helping a church member move some very fancy and very heavy orthopedic beds. And although I've sweat this week more than I ever have, the times when I have been able to serve others have been the happiest.
Have a good week everyone!
-Elder Bigelow
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