week 9

 Week 9  - LAST EMAIL from the training center

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Lyberti Olsen

Sat, Jul 4, 3:25 PM (11 days ago)

안녕하세요 여러분

Hello everyone

I am going to start sharing a word of the week with you,

This week it is my favorite Korean word:

햇빛 (hetbeet)

This means sunshine.

I love 햇빛.

Significant events this week:

• received our flight plans! We officially fly to Korea on Wednesday (and will land Thursday around 3pm)

• trip to BYU Laundry

• birdwatching

• met the 3 new districts that just arrived who are heading to Korea in 7 weeks!

This week is my favorite week of the year, every year. And despite being stuck here in the MTC, it 

has still been my favorite, even though this week has looked entirely different from how I pictured it 

would look a year ago.

I want to share something.

My teacher pulled me and my companion aside this week and asked us two 'thinking questions' as I 

call them.

The first was, "what brought you here?"

I reflected on all the experiences and feelings I've had that led to me choosing to serve a mission, and 

how hard that choice was for me. It all flashed through in my head, followed by what my life would look 

like right now if I wasn't here, and ultimately why I am.

Then she asked, "what's keeping you here?"

I'm not interested in K-pop, or K-dramas, I never have been. I've never watched one or listened to any. 

Korean is not the first language I would've chosen to learn, not even on my list of ones I hoped to learn.

 I never went searching for Korean food before I got my call. 

The place is not why I'm here or what's keeping me here.

It's the people.

They are what keeps me here.

I am going to Korea to find them.

I am learning Korean to communicate with them- to understand them.

Where they came from, what they've endured, what they long for, and what they love.

To console them, to teach them, to share with them, to learn from them.

The place is only important because the people are.

And I will gladly learn about the place-culture and traditions because the people care about them and 

I care about the people. I want to learn about what they love because I love them.

A quote from our devotional this week from Emily Belle Freeman that I really liked is, "To find Jesus is to 

find the way home."

I know there are people there looking for the way home. It is my hope that I can at least point them in the 

right direction and help them find it. 

And so, here I go, off to Korea.

Still not sure what the time difference is or how many hours ahead I'll be, I just know I'll be on the plane 

for about 13 of 'em.

This is something I know you've all been waiting for, and something I now feel ready for. 

Thank you all for supporting me in this journey.

Pray that my luggage won't be overweight.

Love you all,

올센 자매