Gandalf is here! Gandalf is here!

Well, another week gone by. It goes ridiculously fast. Is time going fast at home? I feel like I'll wake up and be on a plane home. That's no good---I have a lot of work left to do here!

This past week we had the most amazing opportunity EVER! Sis. Montgomery and I got permission to go to Busan and see the Annual Fireworks Festival! It's the biggest fireworks show in the world! I've ordered pictures and will mail them home (sorry--I'm not a fan of figuring out how to upload pictures in Korean--I'd rather not be that stressed out on my preparation day). I took some videos, too, and you'll just have to wait I took about 300 megabytes of pictures and videos during the show. Anyway---it was CRAZY there. It was like a mosh pit. I've never felt so many arms all at the same time in my life. I have a nice bruise on my elbow from one over-excited spectator. I can't even make an educated guess of how many people came to the thing, but I'm guessing hundreds of thousands and maybe millions. It's right on Gwangan Beach right over the bridge and it was packed---I mean 2 or 3 people per square foot. It was crazy. The fireworks were AMAZING, though. You know how you can tell when the finale is coming with other fireworks shows because it actually starts to look good? Well, it was 10 times better than the "finales" the WHOLE TIME. It's really cool because everyone just crowds the beach and the fireworks are shot off from boats and from the bridge that goes across the bay. It's AMAZING. The best part was the dragon. Yes, a dragon. Like in Lord of the Rings. It flew over our heads. I felt like a hobbit!!!! They took a remote control airplane and attatched fireworks to it and flew it over the audience and all over the bay. Unfortunately that one caught me so much by surprise that I don't have a video of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Come to think of it, maybe it wasn't a dragon, but more of a Freebird stunt. All I know is it was on fire and flying over my head. It was just incredible.

I got the package you sent, Mom. Thank you so much! Conveniently it came the same day that Sis. Montgomery invested the $16 in a package of flour tortillas from Costco via Sis. Jennings. So we had bonafide chicken tacos that night. It was happy.

Mom, I think you should make your shirt for the Price is Right. It might be cheesy, but I like it. I like it because I grew up with you talking about it, though. Not to mention it's nice to have a cheat sheet :). You could also write something about how you watch it with your grandkids. Be creative. Malea's good at that sort of thing. i'm sure you'll come up with something great to wear.

Tell Scott that we eat the same thing as the cows guts thing in Korea, only they not only cut out the guts and intestines, but they again stuff them with the leftover parts of the pig (and after having eaten the not-leftover parts that makes me fearful). Then they stick it in the pigs blood and let it soak for an unhealthy amount of time for fermentation. Then they add more pigs blood and boil it. It's called soon-day. I think it's because it's describing the day you'll die if you eat it :). Yeah, I'd go for cleaned up cow instestines anyday. I'll always have worse food stories than he does :). He describes it as being like the slime from a long-dead sea-creature while mine usually IS the slime from a long-dead sea-creature. But, he also doesn't get to drink Aloe or carbonated jello-shots. Or eat beh---asian pear. Just stay away from the kom (persimmons) when they get mushy. Ick. Done talking about food.

It's weird cause my housemate, Sis. Asay, is going home in a week. I feel like it's not actually happening---she's not going anywhere. Then Sis. Montgomery is gone 6 weeks after that. It seems so surreal. There will be a new Korean sister coming in next week---so I won't be the youngest (sister) missionary anymore! Weird.

Anyway, I'm just trekkin' along. Things are going well and we're excited about some new opportunities in the work. This week transfer calls come. I kinda hope I'm staying here, but we'll see what the Lord has in store. Next week I could be somewhere new.

Much love to all!

~R~