Thanksgiving treats!

I am THRILLED that we've been invited to have Thanksgiving dinner with a member who lives on base! It may not be Grandma's home cooking, but I'm looking forward to potatoes, turkey and pumpkin pie!

Sis. Bae is less excited. She thinks a lot of American food is gross, like pumpkin pie. It has a weird texture -- and don't even get her started on rice pudding: it's blasphemy!

I promised I'd treat her to a treat they sell on the streets on our way back home: boendegi. It's steamed silkworm pupae. Other missionaries have told me they taste like dirt, but Sis. Bae likes them. They're healthy, she says! Eww! I says!

I'm grateful to have an awesome and patient companion! The Church is true! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Food for thought

My Grandpa, who served in the Korean War, loved this TV show called M*A*S*H. He said it reminded him a lot of his time in Korea. There was one episode that Grandpa liked where one of the guys, Major Frank Burns (who was kind of a weenie), taught an English class for the locals. For some reason, the other guys (who didn't like Maj. Burns) taught the class for him one day, and taught them the phrase, "Frank Burns eats worms!" My Grandpa would laugh whenever anyone said that. Teaching the English class reminded me of that, so I taught it to our class, too! I hope I don't get into too much trouble over that!

First class

And so it begins

Reach out and teach someone

SO excited to start this!

Special recognition

So many of the older people tell me how grateful they are that my grandpa served here during the Korean War! It makes me really appreciate his sacrifice. I'll bet he never thought that his work would result in his granddaughter talking to people about the gospel!

Thanks, grandpa, all all the other Veterans!

In which I fall in love

I am in love.

I’ve just had some of the best fruit I’ve ever had in my entire life! Daegu apples are incredible – even as good as Washington apples. But the best fruit EVER is the Korean pear apple (or beh, as we call it). It’s like a pear, but it’s better than a pear – not as grainy and soft; it’s like an apple, but sweeter.

They have some in the United States, those little yellow fruits wrapped up in those Styrofoam fishnet things. But they’re little and scrawny and tasteless compared to what they have here.

Oh.

My.

Gosh!

So what happens is when you go to visit people in their homes, they bring you a little snack or a drink to refresh you, a daejup they call it. Sometimes it’s a drink, sometimes it’s a snack. In fact, sometimes they bring out coffee, because all Americans like coffee, right? So we have to say no thanks, we don’t drink coffee. So they go back and bring out black tea… and we have to say no thanks, we don’t drink black tea. Then they go back and bring out a Coca-Cola. It’s kind of funny.

So we were visiting an inactive member, and she brought out a plateful of these sliced behs.  I think I embarrassed my companion; I just started chowing down on them, licking my lips and saying how delicious they were! I know that’s not what I’m supposed to do, but I couldn’t help myself. They were SO GOOD! I’m going to have to send some seeds home and grow my own beh tree when I get back!

They taste amazing!

Anyway, we’ve had a good week, and we’re going to be starting an English class. That means that I’ll be doing a lot of the English teaching, so that should be interesting.

We’re working hard, having fun and the Church is true!

I love behs!