In Which I Share a Few More Thoughts

Today was a pleasant Sunday. We had a nice morning (one of Nancy's mission friends spent the night) and a good time at church. After church we rode the bus home and I got started on making burritos. I had finished the salsa and had made the tortilla dough (I'm getting awesome at making tortillas, by the way.) when a member of our branch presidency (for those reading along who may not be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that's our local church leadership) called and informed us that they were on their way over. This was prearranged, so we weren't surprised. We were, however, a little surprised to learn that three of the four of them had brought their wives (or soon to be wives (one of them is getting married in a few weeks)) with them. So, our tiny apartment got to play host to seven people, and it's a good thing that I thoroughly swept the floor yesterday, because we all sat on the floor. It was a nice visit, though. Our branch presidency is cool, and the branch president has awesome hair. They looked at our pictures and one of them shared a nice message about the love of Christ, thankfully in English. What got me thinking, though (and here's where I share some thoughts), is when he said that it must be hard for me, (but not really Nancy, since she served her mission here) living in Korea. I shrugged at the time, but I still got to thinking. Is it really hard? I had to finish that line of thought on a solid no. It really isn't that hard. Sure, I miss my family, my friends, and English, and Mexican food, and canyons, but all-in-all, living here in Korea really isn't any more difficult than living in the US, and may in some ways be easier.

I mean, probably the main thing that anyone would say would make it hard for me is the language barrier. And I will admit that it is frustrating sometimes. However, most of the time I don't mind at all. I generally don't really like talking to strangers anyway, and if anyone at church really needs to tell me something I have Nancy to translate for me. I also pride myself in saying that I'm a smart enough person to be able to interpret things like gestures and voice tones in a conversation, as well as the few Korean words that I do know, to have at least a general idea of what's going on. But here's something about really not understanding anything people say: It absolves me of a surprising amount of responsibility. If I don't understand what's being said, I can't be held responsible for what's being said, and the best part is, no one expects me to be!

Another thing is that I am a very adaptable person, at least, I pride myself (again) in saying so. That was something that I was surprised that the personality test I took yesterday didn't include (It said that I was Snape from Harry Potter.) But it's something that I think I'm very good at. I'm able to mold to most situations and feel at least fairly comfortable in them. Feeling sad or homesick here was never really a worry for me, and it still isn't.

On a more serious note, I never worried about coming to Korea being hard, because I knew I would be with Nancy. Back before I got married I always used to worry that I'd have to move away from Utah Valley to get a job or for some other reason and I would have to leave all of my friends and the things that I love to do behind. However, since I got married, I've realized that, while I miss my friends and I miss my canyons and my normal mountains that aren't filled with enormous bugs, as long as I'm with Nancy, that's where our home is. It's a pretty awesome realization, I'll tell you what.

Finally, it comes back to the message that our branch presidency gave us. It doesn't matter where we are, the love of Christ follows us everywhere, and I know that we can always feel that love, particularly if we're doing the things we should, but even if we weren't (and we are), our Savior would still love us and want us to succeed. I'm really glad we got that message today, it was a good reminder (Particularly because it was in English.).

So, anyway, that's about all I've got for these thoughts. I think I'll put up a picture of me and Nancy and call it good. I can't promise that it won't be a picture I've already posted, but we'll see.

This is Captain Danger out.