Heart and Seoul: January 4, 2015

So I was going to set the table and bring out a few appetizers before getting to the main course of this letter, but if there's one thing I've learned about dining Korean style, it's that there are no appetizers. They just put it all out on the table from the start.

I'M GONNA BE A MAMA.

Yep. You guessed it. There's a stork heading for Korea right now! Found out on Saturday that I'm going to be training! No, not for a marathon (ain't nobody got time for that). I'ma gon git myself one uh dem dehr babee girls!

I've been thinking about what names I like and since I already know the gender, I think I'm gonna go with "Greenie". That's got a good ring to it, wouldn't you say?

Alright. Enough joking around. This is serious. MOM. How did you do it? How does one go about the whole nurturing thing?

I can't say I'm not thrilled with the prospect of training, but it sure has been a good long run with Sister Seo. This place is our home now. We see people we know on the street everyday. In shops, in cars, on the bus, in the bathroom- literally everywhere. We're quite easy to spot, too. With our height difference and hair color. It's been so fun. And you know what we figured out the other day? We figured out that we spent almost exactly 1/3 of 2014 together. From September 3rd to the end. Needless to say, we are now friends for life. She even agreed to take an early morning run to a 목욕탕 (Mokyeoktang?) with me, which Korean sisters rarely do. What's a Mokyeoktang, you ask? Why, allow me to shed some light on the subject. Imagine a big beautiful public bath full of hot tubs, cold tubs, showers, saunas, and a whole bunch of old Korean ladies. Now boys, this is where the imagining stops. You just put all that together, now remove any thread of clothing and Viola! Mokyeoktang. A little bit of heaven on Earth, I'd say.

This isn't the first time I've mentioned bare skinned old Korean women in my letters is it... Oh I love Korea. Even better than the mokyeoktang, though hard to beat, was our lesson with Nicole, our Chinese investigator! She so badly wants to find truth, but all the different interpretations of the Bible keep contradicting each other. I can't even say how blessed I feel to have had a knowledge of the Book of Mormon from the beginning, though I certainly didn't understand the magnitude of it then like I do now. She committed to read it and come to church too so we are so excited! We had so many cool 전도's too and have been able to have so many good discussions with some people from english class and elsewhere who love Sister Seo and wanted to wish her a farewell.

So, yes. This new year promises to bring many an adventure. Started it off with some homemade 떡만두국, as is custom to eat on the first day of the year, as I'll begin training on Wednesday. I'm so excited to meet her, though as of now I know nothing. I hope I can be as good to her as my trainer was to me. I love you all and wish you all the happiest new year.

Love,

Sister McCloskey

P.S. And hey Brandon and Jessie. Are you really gonna let your little sister have her first kid before you have your second?... Food for thought.