Feb 20th

Kajok and chingu! (Family and friends in very botched up Korean romanization)

It has been one week since I last wrote which both seems like an eternity and, well, a week. I'm amazed that I actually have things to write to you in such a short time, but I keep things interesting over here in the Center. 

To start off with a bit of humor, my companion relayed to me a rather funny episode that happened last night regarding my sleep talking. Apparently last night, in the middle of the night (around 3 or 4) she woke up to me reciting Moroni 10:4-5. No joke. She asked me if I was awake and I replied by mumbling something about the neighbors and then silence. She just laughed. We decided that could go on a t-shirt under the words, "You know you're a missionary when...". It's only been a month and I'm already reciting scriptures in my sleep! I can't wait for the day when I sleep talk... IN KOREAN. Stay posted. 

As for the Korean, I'm still loving the language. We got a big group of native girls that are the cutest. Seriously. They teach us Korean songs, share Korean food with us, teach us useful Korean phrases and engage us in the practice of taking numerous shameless selfies. Having them here is really getting me so excited to immerse myself in the Korean culture! On a scale of 1 to pumped, I'm pretty darn pumped.

In other news, Sunday was quite the day. I got called as the Musical Coordinator for our ward which is pretty neat. I am in charge of all the music related stuff, including planning special musical numbers for sacrament meeting. That means that if someone bails, I may have to fill their shoes. Woo! At our devotional Sunday night, Matthew Holland (Elder Holland's son) gave an incredible talk about Joseph Smith. Elder Holland and wife (it was her birthday) were there and he spoke for a bit at the beginning. I'm pretty sure every missionary in this little computer lab right now is probably writing about this right now because it was incredible. He would pause the story of Joseph Smith and a choir would chime in with "The First Vision" and "A Poor Wayfaring Man" and then the MTC choir, including myself, joined the choir at the end with "Praise to the Man". It was so powerful and such a cool thing to be a part of!

Another cool thing happened this week while we were teaching our teacher about the Atonement. She started crying and we were very confused and she just opened up to us about some hard things going on in her life. The cool part was that when we planned that lesson, we really wanted her to feel our love for her so I drew her a picture and we wrote her a note with a little scripture on it. It was simple, but when we gave it to her she was so grateful and said she couldn't have received it on a more perfect day. So that was pretty neat. 

I hope all is well back home and everywhere else. Give Sophia my love and congratulations on her big day and tell Marcus that I'm so terribly excited for him. I know exactly the feeling of anticipation he has right now! Thank you for all the letters and all the love, I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend! Whilst you were off celebrating with no school and no work, we got... no mail! Best President's day ever. :) Honestly though, there is no place I'd rather be than here. Our Branch President was talking to us about the surge in Korean missionaries and he said "Something big is happening in Korea right now". I'm so excited to be a part of it and bring the Hanguk people to Christ. 

In the wise words of our good friend Beyonce, 

"Everybody asks me why I'm smiling out from ear to ear... But I know."

(I may or may not have misquoted that, but the chances of Beyonce ever reading this are slim to none so I think I'm safe. If, in fact, you are reading this, Beyonce, I just wanted to tell you that you rock.) 

Love you all to the moon and back! 

Love,

Sister McCloskey