The struggle is real!

I am pretty sure I say that phrase, "the struggle is real," like 10 times every day for different reasons. But if the struggle wasn't real, I wouldn't be growing right? Sometimes it is so hot and humid that you literally drag yourself down the street  to the next appointment, sometimes your Korean lacks a little and you don't understand your landlord (also a lawyer) entirely as he yells angrily about the house not being cleaned (though we still don't know if he was mad at us or the people who lived there before... because it is spotless now), sometimes the drunk man walking down the street tries to say hi and call you beautiful in English and you just have to ignore him and keep walking, sometimes a Korean gives you something to eat or drink that has a strange flavor and you just have to swallow it down with a smile, sometimes your ward mission council meeting lasts almost two hours and you wiggle in your chair because you have been at the church house sitting in meetings for 5 full hours on Sunday and your bum hurts a little from all the sitting, sometimes you find out that Koreans purposely trash houses when they move because they believe moving is bad luck and you learn why your house was so disgusting when you moved in, and sometimes your golden investigator drops you because she is too busy to meet....

But hey, I love that the struggle is real. If everything were easy, I wouldn't grow. If everything were easy, this mission would be a vacation, not a mission. If everything were easy, I wouldn't be able to "endure" and enduring is how we become stronger. Plus, if everything were easy, I would have no stories to tell after my mission. And I want to be able to tell crazy stories after my mission. ;)

This week our golden investigator dropped us. She got a new job and said that she was too busy to meet us. We were super disappointed at first, but then she came to church on Sunday even though she didn't have time to meet us during the week. She is still golden and I know that one day she is going to enter the waters of baptism. If we are meant to still meet with her, God will provide a way. We just have to have faith and trust His plan.

So there are a lot of people on the streets proselyting for their churches in Korea. Nobody particularly likes talking to these people because they know if they talk to them, they will be super pressured into joining their church. There is actually a Korean word for them, 전도사 (jundo-sa) which translates to something like "proselyting-person" in English. To Koreans, we get grouped with them all the time since we are sharing the streets with them, but I have realized what makes us different. Unlike them, we are not spreading the gospel to force other people into joining our church. We are not trying to convince other people that our church is better than others. We are not trying to increase our membership numbers or prove that more people go to our church than the church down the street. We are spreading our gospel because we truly desire to serve others, and help them come unto Christ. We just want to take them by the hand and guide them to the path to salvation. If they choose to decline, that is their choice. We can't control other people's actions or decisions, we can just give them the chance to decide for themselves if the gospel is true. We are not here to force anyone to do anything. We are just here to give them a chance, and lovingly guide them to the right path. We share the gospel with love and kindness. We are not force's of salvation, rather, we just take people by the hand and guide them if they are ready to follow.

I am so thankful to be serving here right now. Being a missionary is the best, and time is going faster than I can keep up with. :)

Love, Sister Maughan