S.M.I.L.E.

Thank you so much for your email!! It is so great to hear from you.  We got up at 5:15 to do our laundry so we didn't have to wait in line, which is probably a great idea!  I love all of the letters from everyone!  The whole Dear Elder system is great!  We get our postage mail about 11 AM and Dear Elder mail after dinner so it is good to have both!  Even if things don't seem super exciting to you, it is still news here for me and it is great to get a touch of home!!  Grandma is beating you on the letter count so far, and I got the sweetest letter from Grandma Layton yesterday reminding me to S.M.I.L.E. (spiritually minded is life eternal)

I've kept a list of things all week so I don't forget to tell you anything!  Class is going well.  I have gotten pretty good at sounding out words, and know how to say hello, introduce myself, and have almost gotten prayer down in Korean!  The gift of tongues is a real thing!  We have also started singing hymns in class in Korean, which is a little rough at times (and some people are a little tone deaf) but still brings the spirit so strongly!  Our teacher's name is Brother Tanner and served in Busan under the Jennings, and then was there for a couple months to train my president.  He speaks a lot in Korean, but is very expressive and animated so we can usually get his point.  Fun fact--you say yes "nay" in Korean, and we try to SYL (speak your language) as much as possible, so sometimes its really confusing since its no in so many other languages!  And r and l have the same character, which makes "Emiry" make a little more sense. 

We have such a great district--which is our class--there are 10 people, 6 sisters and 4 elders.  Sister Scott is my companion, as I mentioned before.  She is so awesome!  She is from California, did esthetics school in SL last year, and now wants to go to nursing school.  We have bonded a lot over the last few days, and even though its kind of weird to be with the same person constantly, she still is so great and we haven't had any problems.  One of the sisters created "couple names" for all the companionships yesterday and we are "Scurgoyne"  How cute <3 haha.  The other sisters are Sister Hilton who is from Orem, Sister Cheney who is from Cottonwood Heights and went to Brighton, Sister Sloan who is from California, and Sister Stradling from Snowflake Arizona.  The elders are Elder Sorensen from Park City, Elder Wager from Pleasant Grove, Elder Lee from Washington (who is 3 seconds away from qualifying for the Olympic team in the 400 m dash--his current time is 47 seconds and he may go to Rio in 2016) and Elder Jorgensen who lived in Korea for 4 years and already speaks a lot of Korean, which is helpful.  Everyone is fairly different, but we all get along very well!

The food is okay, of course some things are better than others, but I haven't been hungry.  We bought MTC water bottles the first day which was brilliant and have been drinking lots of water.  Aunt Colleen would be so proud!  I haven't gone to see Dr. Brown yet, but hopefully will have time to today! 

I could buy an SD card reader at the bookstore, so don't worry about that!  If you want to send my Sperry's, flip flops,hangers, and more mints, and maybe some diet coke, I would love that!!!  (I'm doing just fine without diet coke, but of course I would love to have some:))

Gym time almost every day is a good break--Sister Sloan did crossfit and so we have been doing that with her and I have been so sore!  I have ran too, while singing hymns of course, which has been great! 

You're going to laugh but all of my favorite skirts are the long ones that are comfy!  If the other ones are long and flowy, I would love them.  I'm sure I will have a good amount of stuff to send home before I leave here--do you think I can just take stuff to Uncle David instead of paying for postage?  I don't know if there are guidelines about that...

Sunday was an awesome spiritual day!  Relief society filled up the whole room-bleachers and all.  I guess in January it only covered the floor, and the amount of sisters has already seemed to double.  Sister Stephens from the general relief society presidency spoke about obedience and the blessings that come from it.  Obedience is very emphasized here.  When they announced her they said "We'd like to welcome Sister Stephens of the General Relief society presidency, and thank her for being here...and her husband Brother Stephens."  I laughed for Dad's sake. 

Then we had our Korean branch, which about half of which was in Korean and I totally didn't understand a lot of it, but caught a few words and phrases which is a good start!  I feel like I have to be really good at it already, but then have to remind myself I haven't even been learning for a week! 

We had a "new sisters meeting" where they talked about dress and hygiene and stuff, and the sister said, "People think that while on their mission, they do not have to take their prescriptions because the lord will bless them.  That is not true.  The Lord has helped you find a Rx that works for you. That is his part and you still need to take them!"  I thought that was funny! 

I read Moroni 8:26 last night--I don't have my scriptures with me but look it up!  I would love good ensign articles, or conference talks, or pictures of Jesus to hang in our classroom!  I love reading my scriptures, but extra modern day thoughts are great too!! 

I am about to try to attach pictures--I hope they work!  Notice my awesome name badge in Korean! 

If you want to print your email and send it to me on Dear Elder it would be great to have a hard copy! 

Thanks for all your love and support!  I miss you all so much, and have some hard times, but I know as I serve I will be blessed!  Last night, I was reminded of the phrase "nothing easy was ever worthwhile and nothing worthwhile was ever easy!"  I think this is so true of a mission and as I stick with it, my life will be changed eternally for the better! 

We get to go to the temple later today which I'm so excited about!!

Respond ASAP because I may have more time to respond later--and if I don't send it to me on Dear Elder and I will respond as soon as I can!

Love you all and miss you so much!  Hope everyone is doing well!  I expect frequent updates from everyone! 

Emily (Sister Burgoyne)