Best Mexican Food I've Ever Had

June 26, 2016

Dear Family,

This week was almost exactly like the last three weeks have been...surprised, right?  But there were some new things going on too, so it wasn't too bad :)

On Wednesday we went to the Chilean Family's house for lunch, and it was amazing.  Probably the best Mexican food I've ever had, and they're from further away from Mexico than we are, so that's saying something.

Here's a picture--real tortillas, real guacamole, real cheese, and real Korean soda--they had everything. Elder Kim even liked it, and he hated Mexican food when he ate it in the US. And the family liked having us over so much that they plan on inviting us again! We wanted to teach them about the Restoration, but the dad had to leave for work and didn't have time. But I gave them a Restoration pamphlet (we were able to get a hold of a Spanish one) and they've read it since. The dad said he has a friend back home who is Mormon, and he has a lot of questions about our church, so we set up a time to meet this coming Wednesday before English class.

On Saturday, President Barrow called and told us about how he's been talking to doctors in the US about Elder Kim's condition, even sending a CD copy of the MRI results to them. The conclusion was that since going to the doctor every couple weeks isn't helping, he should go to a traditional oriental medicine clinic every day for a week, and if his condition doesn't improve he'll have to go home until he gets better. So we went Saturday morning, and again this morning. It was crazy, I'm so glad I'm not the one who got a concussion...they put glass suction cups all over the back of his neck, leaving some nasty-looking hickies. Then they took those off and did acupuncture in his neck and head. I'll have to take a picture next time we go and show you. After they took the needles out, they hooked him up to a machine that he said gave him an "electric massage" on the back of his neck. Elder Kim said he doesn't trust them because he feels worse after getting the treatment, but they said after doing the same thing every day for a week, it should reduce the pain in his head by half.

Then on Sunday after church, the sisters had a baptism. And for some reason, they asked me to baptize her, even though I have no relation whatsoever. 

This is Sister LJ and her two grandchildren who were there. Her son and his family are members of a different ward, but they came for the baptism.

But besides those events, we've just been hanging out inside, Elder Kim mostly sleeping, and me either studying, sleeping, or playing guitar (which is really fun, I can play most of the songs in the Children's Songbook by now :))

Yep, Elder Kim has a constant headache, and always feels pretty nauseous. There's not a word for nauseous in Korean, so every time someone asks him how he's feeling (which happens multiple times a day, or 50 times a day on Sunday since we see all the members), he has to explain what it's like to be nauseous...it's kind of funny.

Anyways...have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hines

Serving in South America

June 19, 2016

Dear Family,

Elder Kim says he feels the same, if not worse. The doctor (he's an American, retired doctor, serving as a senior missionary in Japan) called last night and asked me about it. He's getting worried because usually concussions usually start getting better after a couple weeks. Not sure what to do there. He's already had two blessings, one from Elder Suttner and me, and one from President Barrow.

The guitar I've been practicing on is one that was just already in the house.  It's not uncommon for missionaries here to buy a guitar and carry it around throughout their missions, and then just leave it in their last area when they go home. So a lot of houses have random guitars in them. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the guitar is the only reason I haven't died of boredom yet.

The American food that sounds the best right now is probably lasagna/stuffed shells, or maybe real pizza. Koreans have lasagna and pizza, but it's not that good. Are you going to feed the missionaries spaghetti? Just curious... :)

English class is going really well, and the Chilean family has been there consistently.  They like the class a lot, and the dad always tells us how much he appreciates the messages at the end. On Saturday, we had a ward activity right after English class, and they came to that as well. For the activity we played a bunch of water games in the parking lot of the church (I've probably mentioned before, there are no parks/grass in Korea), and then made and ate Patbingsu (팥빙수--have I told you about it before? It's a really good Korean dessert). Anyway, the family liked it a lot, and it was a really good opportunity because they got to talk to some of the members who speak English. And the best part is, they invited Elder Kim and me over to their house this Wednesday to eat lunch, and they're preparing Mexican food (apparently Mexican food is better than Chilean food, or so they say).  o it will be an amazing opportunity, not only do we get Mexican food (which for some reason Koreans hate, so Elder Kim will have fun) but it's the perfect opportunity to start teaching them. I can't wait, this must be what it's like, serving in South America...

Well, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hines

Dinner at the Bishop's house

District last transfer

Last Transfer!

June 12, 2016

Dear Family,

Yep, today was transfers.  I'm still in Jinhae, and still the district leader. Elder Suttner left to a different area, and now it's just Elder Kim and me here in Jinhae.

As far as the concussion goes, it seems like it might be a little more serious that we were thinking.  Yesterday morning the area medical authority called and said that it could take a few months for Elder Kim to fully recover, and if we work him too hard before he is completely recovered, it might result in permanent damage.  So it's pretty likely I might just be spending my last transfer inside with Elder Kim and his bruised brain. 

The members are really supportive and helpful though.  Last week when they found out about his injury, the bishop's wife got really worried and has had someone from the Relief Society stop by our house and bring us meals at least once a day throughout all of last week.  It was amazing.  In the US they do that kind of thing pretty often, but Koreans are just always so busy.  I had never heard of the members in Korea taking care of other members like that before.

Anyway, since we've been stuck inside all week, we've just done things like calling members/contacts/people in the area book, cleaning the church, learning guitar (I can play like three songs now!), and tending to a dying companion.  I guess one good thing about it is that I have a ton of time to myself to study the scriptures.  Normally the only study time we have is spent studying for investigators, but now I have plenty of time to study whatever I want :)

English class was pretty fun last week because there was a family from Chile we found on the street a few weeks ago who came.  The dad and daughter are really good at English, but they have three sons who are pretty bad at it.  It's kind of hard to teach them because I don't know any Spanish, and if there were any words or phrases I knew from before my mission, they've been replaced with Korean.  But it's fun because we actually have people to teach now.  But speaking of English class, I'm now the only white person in Jinhae (Sister Rix left and a Korean sister came) so I have no idea how we're going to teach English to people who want to learn from a native speaker...it'll be interesting.

Elder Kim went to the picnic, but just stayed at the picnic tables while we went on the hike around the lake.  It really looks like Utah?  I guess I forgot what Utah looks like...

Well that was my week! It was great fun, trust me :) Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Hines