Last Monday was Ben’s first
day of school. Dad took this picture of Ben
right before he went out our front door to walk to the city bus stop. He had to leave around 7:00AM to catch the
bus to get to school ontime. He rides
the bus for 42 stops before he arrives near the school. It takes about an hour
and twenty minutes, one way. School
starts at 8:30AM. School ends at 3:30PM.
Ben rides the bus home, arriving around 5:00PM.
Right outside our front door
(which is to the right of this picture with the church to the left of this
picture) on Ben’s way to school the first day of school - you can see the
basketball hoop? - ask Ben about dunking the basket like the office
missionaries do.
While on our walk home from
the sports complexes on Saturday, looking across the street I noticed this
camouflage sign which said: Stale Fish. Today while Dad and I were on our way
to Costco we saw a couple of other signs that made us chuckle. One said, BUY
BYE. The other sign said WIFF, when
looking inside the window I saw that it sold toilets.
Picture taken of our new missionaries
going out jundoing/proselyting on Thursday in the rain! (Picture taken from
upstairs, outside of the mission office overlooking the parking lot outside of
the chapel.)
They had wonderful
experiences. We waited for Ben to get home from school, took a taxi down to the
area where they worked and met them for dinner at a restaurant - typical Korean
restaurant where we sat on the floor on little pads. Typical Korean food with
many dishes placed on the table in front of everyone (small portions for up to
four people to share). A few of the new sister missionaries asked me the next
day what I thought of the food. I think they will have a bit of a hard time
until they adjust. But one new elder refused to eat anything, not even the
rice, at dinner that night and all day (when the missionaries took them out for
a typical lunch-what they did with Ben when we first arrived).
The assistants came to the
mission home to borrow whatever umbrellas we had there. I seemed to have
enough…but have not seen them brought back. I kept three of the umbrellas for
Dad, Ben, and me…new ones that I purchased for our missions. They ended up
being too small, kind of flimsy…they were great for folding up in size to be
good for traveling. But now I realize I need to order new umbrellas for us. We
see many people using umbrellas even when it is not raining. One elder told us
the Korean people hate the rain! But also they don’t like the sun on them.
Ben was thinking he saw onions cut with the design of a rose on top of each one? But, I wonder if they were a turnip or some other vegetable.
I liked this picture. I took it right after the train took off with
the departing missionaries. Dad and the
missionaries didn’t know that I took this picture. What a whirlwind that
was! We left with plenty of time to get
to the train station but then we were at a standstill in traffic. The sister missionaries were hilarious in the
backseat of our car but, they were praying we would get there in time. Once we arrived at the bus station Elder Min
jumped out of the van and moved orange traffic cones around for us to drive
around and miraculously found two parking places left in this tiny parking
lot! There was a HUGE line of people waiting
to work their way into the bus station. We
didn’t realize how crowded it would be during the last part of vacation time
(also, Korean Independence Day-the holiday celebrated when Korea gained its freedom
from Japan in 1945. It is called Gwangbokjeol or Liberation Day.) Somehow all the missionaries with all of
their luggage hustled through another door into the bus terminal, up an
escalator, over and across the station, down another escalator to the bus
platform and then hustled to another platform.
And then back again. Pictures were taken in a short amount of time
before they boarded the train. Whew!
These are our office missionaries taking a picture of the
departing missionaries as they entered the bullet train are about to go up to
Seoul. They attend a session at the temple in the evening, and stay in housing on the temple grounds. The next day their flights leave in the afternoon
so they have a little time to look around Seoul.
More about the transfers, etc....
Individual, personal testimony is and always will be the strength of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A testimony is best nurtured in the family setting. … The gaining and the keeping of testimonies should be a family project. Do not neglect anything that will help to strengthen the testimony of any member of your family.16
Last Monday was a
hectic day at Transfer Meeting…but fun and energizing. I prepared a pasta
dish for lunch for 34 missionaries…who can eat a LOT! I was baking bread
early in the morning, then slicing it, trying to gather my information for
speaking to the missionaries. I hustled out the door just in time for the
meeting to begin. It was P-Day so the other missionaries (other than the
missionaries who were going home) could come attend to hear them share their
final testimony and to say goodbye. The assistants wanted me to mention
flirting in my talk, and I also spoke about looking out for your companion.
One elder asked me to send him a copy of my talk. So when I first
sat down next to Dad up front I told him that he forgot to give me a kiss this
morning. I told him he still needed to kiss me (it reminded me of the day
we got married and I told him to kiss me on the cheek in front of his family-he
was so embarrassed-so funny). So he held up the hymn book in front of our
faces and gave me a quick kiss. While he was talking to the missionaries
he told them he made a mistake, and wondered if any of them noticed him giving
me a kiss…and one elder raised his hand!
We had six outgoing
sister missionaries spend the night at our house. Ben had to juggle
bedrooms so that as many as possible missionaries could sleep on a bed.
Funny thing…the elders usually try to sleep on the floor by the end of
their missions. We have these pads that we put down for the extra sister
missionaries…the elders apartment has enough for the outgoing elders.
Sister Lee made a wonderful traditional Korean dinner for twenty people
in our home. We used chopsticks and everything! I’m still not very
good with chopsticks. Funny thing…I am more comfortable using the
chopsticks in my right hand even though I’m left-handed. Ben got
home from his first day of school in time for dinner and the testimony meeting
held afterward. Breakfast the next
morning surprised me as most of the missionaries were so nervous to go home
that they hardly ate anything. I’ll have to make a mental note of that.
After taking the
departing missionaries to the train station we held a quick staff meeting to
adjust and plan. Tuesday morning Dad received a call from Salt Lake
telling him that half our missionaries would not be arriving as planned.
For some reason half the missionaries flew from Salt Lake to Seattle to
Tokyo to Busan (like how we flew here). They arrived on time Tuesday
night. The other half of the missionaries flew from Salt Lake to Dallas
where they got delayed by mechanical problems so they were put up in a hotel
with meal vouchers until Wednesday when they arrived. That meant that we
put training on hold for a day. We made two trips to the airport to pick
up missionaries. We need to plan our trip to the airport better…wasting
lots of time. Who knows when the flights really arrive! But it
was fun to watch the assistants and office elders OYM (open your mouth) and
talk with people in the airport. We saw some US military people waiting
on their people to arrive on the same flight as our missionaries. Elder
Min is interested in the military people as he already served his military
service. But he was too afraid to go talk to those men. I called
him “chicken” which he played off of even the next few days. But I ended
up talking to the military people, then Dad, and then a while later Elder Min
was brave enough to come over. The next night when we went back to the
airport for the rest of our missionaries we saw the same military people
waiting to pick up more of their people.
We had six new
sister missionaries spending the night with us…so Ben was displaced from his
room a few more days. Breakfast for plenty of hungry missionaries (mental
note to self-they eat a lot more food when they are new to the country than
when they leave the country). The incoming missionaries don’t generally
look anything like the pictures they sent in with their missionary paperwork…so
I needed to ask them their names again as they came into our home for breakfast
(the elders) (Elder Min introduced himself as Elder “Chicken” from the night
before, HA!).
Wednesday I invited
the office missionary couple to hold their English class in our home because of
some mix up/whatever. It was fun! The Onchon (That’s our area/ward)
elders and the office couple teach and it was fascinating. We had about
five Korean ladies and one Korean man attend. The conversation started
off about the holiday, Liberation day. Our Korean elder sat by me to tell
me a little bit about the history of the navy…12 Korean ships scared off 330
Japanese ships!! It’s known as the greatest navy battle in their history.
The king and the government gave up and ran away. But the hero
stuck it out and conquered the Japanese army with his old fishing ships that
were renovated for battle. Great history lesson. We were playing an
alphabet game when Ben came home from school and joined in the fun! Then
we went to the airport for the second time of picking up missionaries.
Ben did great with his adjusted schedule during the first week of school.
Friday was our
final day with these new missionaries before they were given their new areas
with their trainers. They played some trust games to get to know each
other better. They learned rules and stuff. I
spoke about the booklet Adjusting to Missionary Life, then went back home to
help prepare for the lunch with everyone, while Dad was assigning the
companionships and speaking about the 12 Week Program, etc. They all left
shortly after lunch, and so did we. We had to go to the airport to pick
up Elder Whiting, from the Asia North Area Presidency who came for a short trip
to attend the coordinating council of stake presidents, district presidents,
and the mission president, held on Saturday. Elder Whiting was fun right
from the start! His flight arrived early so we just pulled up to the
curb, rolled down the window and he asked with a laugh if we were Mormons! We
could talk easily with him right from the moment we met him. He told us
about his children’s experiences with attending foreign schools, etc. We
got him to his hotel and then back home…a blur that I can’t remember.
Saturday morning
Dad, Ben, and I walked over to the big sports complexes. We don’t know
when they were built or why…but they must have had something to do with big
competitions like the Olympics. There are a number of nice facilities for
a number of different sports like soccer and baseball and martial arts, etc.
Anyway, we asked around (Korean people are very friendly and willing to
try to help answer questions) and walked around until we found the track…which
was closed. But the security man told us the hours the track is open to
the public. The morning hours he said will have about 300 people running
on the track! The evening hours will have 700-800 people running on the
track! Can you imagine!!?! That’s a whole lot more people to run
around and dodge during your workout than when Andy’s track workout is
happening. Dad ran over to the track this morning in the torrential rain
(the walking path nearby was completely submerged under water!) and there were
still a few people there to workout. He said it was funny to see the
people come using an umbrella and then put it aside to run in the rain. I
guess Dad talked with a Chinese man who is a missionary for his church…he will
need to let you know about that.
In the afternoon
Dad and I drove to the hotel to pick up Elder Whiting and then to a small
island where the church was first established in Korea to attend the
coordinating council meeting. This time the wives of the presidents were
invited (doesn’t normally happen). Dad and I gave a devotional during the
combined meeting, along with brief introduction of us as the new mission
president and family. Then they separated the wives to another room for
our meeting where we each had brought pictures to show to the other women to
introduce our families. I had the two elders assigned to that ward there
(Daeshin) to be my translators. The wife of Elder Jong (I think that’s
his name), the area Seventy in charge of this meeting was in charge of our
wives meeting. I had mixed feelings about how that meeting went. It
was fun to hear from each of the wives…most of them are my age or stage of
life. Two others of the six of us had five children, like me. Most
of them had returned missionaries and one still in the mission field.
Most of them had one or two of their children married. I think a
few of them were grandma’s like me…still having children at home, etc.
But one wife/sister was younger than the rest of us. Her husband is
a district president, meaning that the church is not as established where they
live. So you can guess that that means that they work very hard!
She had three young children at home (a boy and girl set of twins who
were baptized at age eight three weeks ago, and a three year old girl).
She was trying hard but had her children there so she was in and out of
the meeting, as was her young child. I could feel for her. It
reminded me of the time I attended Philmont during LDS week and had one on one
time with R. Beck and then also with S. Gibson…wonderful ladies! I spoke
with Elder Whiting briefly afterward when he asked me how the meeting went.
After the meeting
we drove through the CRAZY traffic on this small island to go to a restaurant.
We parked at a parking building…so fascinating! It is like a
vending machine. You get out of your car and watch as the attendant pulls
into the building like an elevator, which closes and then raises it up to
whichever floor it is assigned in this tall narrow building. When we went
back for our car it came out the other door…I don’t know how they did it. I
wish you could have seen this place…amazing! There was a native man
attending the coordinating council meeting as Elder Whiting’s translator and
directing us on foot to this restaurant for dinner. But this brother Jong
(I think) was not good at leading for others to follow. Because of the
national holiday weekend there was so much traffic by cars and on foot (just
think of the movies that show CROWDS of people to get lost in). He was
trying to lead us to the restaurant and was hurrying because we were late for
our reservation. He lead us one direction, then another, stepped away out
of view to take a phone call, reappeared, started leading again, took off on a
SPRINT…all the while Elder Jong and his wife, Elder Whiting, and Dad and I were
trying to follow. We put Elder Whiting in between the two couples so in
case he couldn’t keep up he would still be with somebody. My goodness!
That was an adventure! But we made it there. Sat down on the
floor to eat. Elder Whiting instructed Dad and I, in the car on the way
to his hotel, to remember to find a restaurant with tables and CHAIRS when he
comes again. He was a good sport, joking, but it was difficult for him to
sit close enough to the table. He lives in Japan but I guess they always
try to have their dinners in restaurant with chairs. Usually I fidget and
wiggle so that my legs don’t fall asleep…not always successful.
Trying to find the
parking elevator after dinner was an adventure. Driving in traffic,
again, was an adventure. Elder Whiting said that Dad and I passed the
test…he did not feel the tension from the front seat/us like he has from other
couples when driving through such traffic. I guess I’m used to Dad
driving like the natives now. it’s not unusual to see mopeds driving down
the sidewalks dodging pedestrians and old Korean gentlemen walking down the
street (next to the sidewalk) with traffic swerving around them. We’ll
see him next weekend for the first of the district/ stake conferences.
Same district next weekend.
Sunday morning we
drove to Hogye to attend church in that branch. Dad told me Sunday
morning I would have to speak. He told Ben he would have to speak,
too…but while sitting on the stand Ben was relieved of that assignment. I
had been reading certain scriptures and talks lately so I put something
together. But I’m still learning about what I can/should say that can be
translated. When a sister speaks a Korean sister translated. I had
this sister missionary translate for me before and it wasn’t a good
experience…again! I need to work hard tomorrow to write my talks for the
Saturday night session and Sunday morning sessions of district conference this
weekend before I prepare my talk for MLCM this Friday. Hopefully I will
get organized and know my material ahead of time. After church the branch
provided lunch for us/everyone. We ate bi bim bop. I asked a woman
how they make it. We were served a bowl with portions of the following:
cucumber, mushrooms, cooked eggs, radish, zucchini, all sliced very thinly and
vertically….assembled in each bowl with rice, bean sprouts, and sesame
oil/seeds and a red pepper paste (spicy) for flavoring. They do not put
much red pepper paste on our serving of bi bim bop as they think we cannot
handle the spice. It’s rather bland. But I don’t mind because I don’t
want to burn my mouth. Dad and Ben would like more spice/flavoring. Dad had to hustle off to many interviews
(Temple recommend interviews, prospective counselors to fill the vacancy in the
branch presidency, a person for temple sealing issues, etc. about ten different
interviews.) Long day for Dad. Long day for us waiting.
I appreciated
learning from the Teaching of the Presidents: Joseph Fielding Smith, chapter 16
Bringing Up Children in Light and Truth:
The importance of family unity—love and
consideration for one another in the family—cannot be overemphasized. Spiritual
solidarity in family relationships is the sure foundation upon which the Church
and society itself will flourish. This fact is well known
Individual, personal testimony is and always will be the strength of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A testimony is best nurtured in the family setting. … The gaining and the keeping of testimonies should be a family project. Do not neglect anything that will help to strengthen the testimony of any member of your family.16
Help your children in every way you can to
grow up with a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Teach them to pray.
Teach them to observe the Word of Wisdom, to walk faithfully and humbly before
the Lord so that when they grow up to manhood and womanhood they can thank you
for what you have done for them and look back over their lives with grateful
hearts and with love for their parents for the manner in which those parents
cared for them and trained them in the gospel of Jesus Christ.18
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