Hey everybody,
So, I'll tell you the story of my life last Monday night Korea time. We finished our P-day of eating pancakes and writing letters with other missionaries, and then went out to proselyte. We knocked on doors basically the whole night, which in Korea is not the most productive thing to do, but we had no appointments and it's better than wandering around. We didn't end up getting anywhere with door knocking, but we did have a 20-minute conversation with a guy that runs a Family Mart on the corner over there. (when I say conversation I mean that the guy stood there and talked to me about everything from Korean school system to economics. I hardly got a word in edgewise, but he was nice:D) Throughout the whole day I was getting progressively more excited. I might have said this before, but transfer call night is one of my favorite things ever! you go through the p-day wondering, "Will I get transferred? Will I stay? What will happen to my companion???" Then 9:00 comes, and both you and your companion know that you won't put tons of energy into planning tonight but you'll try anyway because it's the right thing to do. Me and Elder Larson finished at 9:20. Then...the wait. This is the best part of transfer call night. I sit there and my hands start shaking, and the butterflies start flying around in my stomach, and I watch the clock, and just sit there getting really excited. It's the best. :D So anyway, Elder Larson had told the assistants to the president to call us first if we were staying, because he's friends with one of them. 9:30 came....and went. Aaah! We were like, "Maybe they forgot." We were both figuring we'd stay so I can "kill" him next transfer. 9"40....9:50.... By this time we were freaking out! We played a game of Egyptian Rat Screw to kill time (which I won, haha!). Then finally at like 10:15, the call came....and it was President Lee. "Dean changno! (that's Elder in Korean) You will go to Sindang. Your companion will be Elder Jeong Hoyong." I couldn't believe it. I only got to Gangneung like 12 weeks before and everything was stacked for me to stay there and have the best last transfer for Elder Larson, but.... I got transferred. Wow. That took forever to type.
I find it funny that the romanization of 신당 turns out to be a word made up of "sin" and "dang." :D It's actually pronounced "sheen-long." Languages are never ever translated perfectly unless they are Spanish and English. This area is literally in the heart of Seoul. It's district name means "center district." It's pretty near the old downtown of Gwangwhamun, and it's definitely the most metro place I've been in so far (which, with only four areas, is not saying much). comparing it to Gangneung is like comparing night to day almost. The ward has like a hundred people. My companion is Korean obviously, and we were in the MTC together. So needless to say we are tearing it up right now! It was hard to adjust again so soon after I transferred last time; it's been really weird but really fun. I'm sad that I don't get to see Elder Larson off, and that I had to leave Gangneung, but there are so many great things about this place. The ward has fed us like three times since Wednesday, which is remarkable considering that they all knew that the missionary I replaced would be going home. last transfer was his last. And even though that missionary that they knew so well is gone, they were still willing to invite us over for meals. This is one of the strongest wards in the mission, and I'm really happy to be here. Actually the headquarters of the Church in Korea is the second and third floors of our church building, which is pretty cool. They have a lot of translators for the church that work here. Our missionary apartment is super nice too. So all in all I think it is a good change; the one thing I don't like is that the people in Seoul are definitely not as nice on the street as the people in Gangneung. They're all super-busy and they've been attacked by other churches' missionaries before; sometimes those missionaries can be pretty vicious. But I've talked to some super nice people so far. There's definitely tons more people here.
My new comp is so funny. He speaks pretty good English, and he knows funny words like "goober" and "lerpy" from serving around Americans for his whole mission. He's a really hard worker, and I'm glad to be here working with him. He's from down south in Korea, but not that far south. We have a fun time; he's one of the funniest people I've ever served with. Hopefully it rubs off on me. :D
We spend a lot of time with the youth of this ward. We figure that they are the ones that can benefit most from our strength and who can refer the most out of their friends. There's one named Hyeonchang who is so funny. he's like 13, and he's super chubby and just a funny kid. He was baptized a couple years ago, and still comes to church even though his friend who introduced him to it doesn't come anymore. We play basketball a lot with him and a couple other youth. We call him King Kong, which he hates, and one time I said it and he started punching me and accidentally got me below the belt, so I was out for a couple minutes. He felt really bad. :D We're constantly working to keep them coming out. I had a swordfight with another of the youth--I used a baseball bat and he used a mop. He cut off my leg first,and then I got his arm, and after a couple minutes of fierce battle I finally ended up getting cut in half across the chest. It was super fun. :D
I have more I could tell about but not tons of time. I'll be sure to put more info about the new ward in next week's email. Love you all, have a great week!
Elder Matt Dean
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