Dear fam and friends,
 

     Well another week has officially just flown by.  It really scares me sometimes how fast time goes.  I just want all of you to know that I am doing amazing and am learning and growing so much.  I am gaining so many lifelong friends as well.  Last night we had a lesson with a less active family and had a ton of fun.  We taught them until 9:20 p.m. because they just kept on talking. We knew we had to be home by 9:30 p.m., and we were 20 minutes away from our apartment, so to be obedient when we got out we just ran our hardest.  Two sister missionaries running in skirts. haha

     The other day we were on a bus going to pick up our investigator to go to stake conference.  Suddenly the bus driver stopped at the intersection, got out of his seat, and walked up to us.  He said, "WOW!!! Where are you from?  Germany?  Are you German?"  We said no, we are from the U.S. and he just couldn't believe it.  He acted like we were rock stars and he went back to his drivers seat and just stared at us. Super funny!
      This week we had a couple of great experiences.  We now have a family to teach.  When you find someone to teach in Korea it's a miracle.  It's very hard to find people to teach and this family actually found us, and they are so prepared.  I love them already and have only met with them once.  Koreans are the nicest people I have ever met, and very hard workers.  I hate to say this but they are a thousand times kinder and more courteous than Americans.  The respect that everyone has here for each other is beyond me.  Americans usually don't show this much respect for people off the street.  I am jealous of their culture and am going to look kinda silly when I get home because of the habits I am developing.

     The chapel here is quite small.  It has two stories, and our ward is the smallest in our zone with only 6 SISTER missionaries.  There are about 20 sister missionaries in my mission though.  Someone asked me to describe the sitting arrangement.  In restaurants you sit on the floor to eat but they have a different part in there where you can sit on chairs.  The church has chairs too. In my apartment we do have a desk and a chair for our desk but that's it. We eat and sleep on the ground. I ALWAYS use chopsticks and am getting better and better at it. My favorite food to eat in Korea are the sandwiches that are made out of rice, instead of a bun. But the only problem is they only use white rice and I would like brown rice. It's healthier.
       I haven't sung at the subway again but I am singing in all the lessons we teach.  My companion loves to put me on the spot. haha. I sing just about everywhere we go. I am so blessed to use music on this mission. I am singing also for the Christmas celebration the missionaries are putting on. That will be fun.

     The weather is getting colder and I bought a really nice big coat at the mall. They have a billion coats here to choose from so I picked out a good one. I also bought some sweaters and some long warm skirts for the winter. Today we woke up and got to play soccer with a bunch of Koreans.  I love soccer!  It's  one of my favorite sports and it was the funnest thing I've done so far on P-day. I miss cross fit sooooooo much and I would really like it if you could message AJ Richards and ask him if he could send me his list of 100 cross fit workouts.  Tell him I forgot to print it out before I left.  Help...I am desperate and am getting out of shape!   I think I am losing muscle.  People are always trying to feed us so it's hard to stay in shape. Another P-Day we went to a big buffet with all the missionaries in the zone.  Next week I think we are going to go to the border of North Korea and I heard you can see the other side from there.  Pretty cool!

     It's weird because even though my hair is black my companion and I are getting even more stares than ever surprisingly.  My hair is getting a little more brown now, thank goodness.  It looks like there's a ton of brown steaks going through the black color.  It's not that bad, kinda pretty, but I'm definitely going blonde when I get back.  I am missing my old color, but I am just going to have to get over myself.  It's not about me right now and hair color is not what defines a person, and I am still Michelle.

     My companion and I were walking to a less active members house this last week, and it was about 30 minutes away.  We were walking a long and all of a sudden....my companion stopped and said, "I think I have some issues going on."   Long story short it turned out that she had diarrhea.  In Korea there are 3 things you just don't find, a public bathroom, trash cans, and water fountains. So then she started to scream, and we tried to find a bathroom. We looked for another 30 minutes and headed for the subway station to a bathroom.  There was no toilet paper!  My companion had already pooped her pants and we had to go in the store and buy paper towels to clean her up.  It was sad but we both ended up laughing so hard!!!

    I am trying my hardest to move the work forward.  I am learning so much and trying to become who the Lord needs me to be.  I know this gospel is true!!  I know it with all my whole heart and mind!!!  This is the most important work we can do. I love the Korean people and love serving them everyday.  I love this beautiful language and everything about Korea.  I know I am meant to be here.  I love all of you, and by the way Ethan is adorable!!  aww.....kisses and hugs!!!!

       Love, Michelle