Another week gone by! I feel like the weeks are going by so slow, but so fast at the same time. It's way weird how that works. This week has been a bit of a roller coaster, what with trying to be missionaries, having a new companion, and finishing moving, but Sister Brockbank and I are doing great:)
This week, we really realized the importance of knowing the city and knowing the bus system here. I know the city pretty well from downtown, where our old house is located, but neither of us know how to get ANYWHERE from our new house. And we don't have smart phones. We have a map of the city and a bus map that doesn't have the times that the buses come and it's also not very clear which buses are on which routes, or even what the routes are. The work has been going a little slower this week because of moving and because we are confused on how to get anywhere, but we're getting slightly better! Slightly. It's only a problem because we can't schedule in that many meetings because we have to plan in so much travel time. For example, we had a meeting with a lady this week at 5 pm. We left our house at 3:30 pm, and still got there 10 minutes late. We haven't gotten lost as in we don't know where we are, but we just don't know the best route from point A to point B. But, we're figuring it out, and by the end of this transfer, we're going to know this city so well!
I have only watched a little bit of General Conference so far (actually only the Saturday morning session), but I loved the talks in it! I made an effort this past week to keep conference in my mind, and think of questions that I want to be answered and pray about it. I prayed a lot about Veronica, one of our friends. I feel like we've established a really good relationship with her, but we haven't really talked to her much about the gospel. She's in a tough home situation, and we felt like trying to share the gospel would make her feel too pressured. However, the almost all the conference talks in the Saturday morning session talk about ministering and sharing the gospel. I really love the idea of sharing what's in your heart. After all, that's what we're here to do. It's Veronica's choice if she wants to accept the gospel or come to church or whatever she wants to do, but the church is something that brings me purpose in life and true joy. Why should I not share that with her? I want her to be happy, and I know a way that she can be. Sometimes, it's really hard to talk to people about what you believe, whatever it is. But if it's something that you really believe and it's something that you know can help others too, why not share it? We're going to try to meet with Veronica this week which I'm just a little nervous for (ok, a lot nervous), but she knows that we care about her, and that's really all that matters.
Because of the big move that happened this week and trying to get our lives back in order, I have found that a lot of my thoughts were focused on me and my companion, how hard it was for us to move, how tired we are, how stressed we are. While we were still trying to do missionary work, and we still had a lot of fun this week, some moments were miserable. That's what happens when we focus too much on our own problems. Striving to always think of and help others has really made a difference in my mindset and how I think about life. Life is a lot better when it doesn't completely revolve around you!
I hope that you've all had a great week! I love you all!
Sister Jones
Pictures:
Pictures:
1. Russian buildings
2. Beautiful Vlad/ our new view!
3. Angel wings in Korea! Also, we're allowed to wear nametags there!
4. Isaac: the best breakfast sandwich shop in Korea
5. The Korean temple
6. Shake Shack in Korea! It tastes like America:)
