The mission president from the Korea Busan mission was released and had his farewell fireside today. It was an option to see it or stay home and relax. Only me, Dr. Peterson, Joy (his daughter), and Stephen attended as well as the missionaries that we met at the branch, and 수경 Soo Kyung who is an investigator and a student at 인제대학교 Inje University.
We first took a taxi (they drive super fast here) and then we took the subway. While we were on the subway, this man wearing a banner came up to the missionaries. At first, we thought he was joking with them but then he started yelling and getting really upset. This caused a commotion on the subway because the subways here are quiet and people keep to themselves on the subway. So everyone and their dog could hear him. I didn't understand everything he was saying but I heard him say, 'How dare you wear Jesus Christ's name on your tags? Do you think you're greater/higher than him?" The missionaries didn't say anything to him and good thing they didn't. The man was from another Christian church but I didn't recognize the name. I was scared to death and so was 수경 Soo Kyung. Everyone on the subway just looked at the man weird or didn't say anything. A couple of them had looks saying, "He must be crazy."
It's pretty embarrassing but I think Christianity has gotten a bad rap here. Many of the Christian groups have caused trouble here. Like on the news while I was at 숙희 Aunt Sookhee's house, there was a news report that a radical Christian group cut down lanterns for Buddha's birthday, upsetting many people. Who wouldn't be upset at that? Also, this has definitely happened here. Many people here claim that they're Christian, but they don't act like it. It's really sad. 수경 Soo Kyung told me that that man really scared her and how could he claim that he's Christian if he acts like that to people? She told me that she saw this card that had a heart in the middle and religious symbols circling the heart. She said that religions form around love. That's what religion is about. I thought that was pretty cool what she said.
Well, what an interesting way to go to a fireside. Get yelled at about being a Mormon right before a fireside. Haha you think life can't be any more coincidental than that. It was weird hearing English in a church setting again because we've been so used to hearing Korean for the past few weeks. The mission president's wife doesn't speak Korean so she had a translator but the mission president (obviously) spoke in Korean. At first the secretary spoke and it was funny because he purposely spoke in Korean with an American accent and it was hilarious. Everyone busted out laughing.
So if BYU and Utah are small worlds, Korea is smaller. Especially if you're Mormon. At the fireside, I noticed this one kid who looked familiar. We were talking in Korean and I asked him if he by chance attended BYU and if he took mission prep with Brother Bott. He said he did and then we just bursted into English haha. His name is 임종민 Lim Jong Min. It turned out that we had the same class, saw each other once maybe when everyone was leaving. Haha small world. At the fireside, I met some other missionaires and talked with a few people. There was this old man trying to have a conversation with me but he's really hard to understand because of his dialect and that he's old. But it's a good thing because most people say that he's a bit hard to understand here (they're Korean too). Haha I felt so dumb talking to him thinking, "I really can't understand everything he's trying to say. What's wrong with me?" I guess that's a relief if others have a hard time too.
Haha he looks so tall and I look so short in this picture.
Isn't the south so pretty?
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