Every corner of the intersection was decorated with this
huge "horses" block.
Thinking of Papa when we saw that 76 sticker!
Friday was a busy day of interviews starting with the
missionaries in Dogye. The we arrived before the elders, who had the key to
open up the church. The sisters arrived next, so Dad started the interviews
with one of them I our car while the other and I sat and talked right outside
the car. With each of the missionaries being interviewed I have tried to take their
individual picture somehow. At one building I had gone outside to receive a
phone call from the area medical advisor, and as I was walking around to the
back of the building I saw a tiny little flowerbed with a splash of purple
flowers. In other interviewing buildings I just used the blah boring white
background of a classroom cement wall. One of our missionaries wasn’t feeling
well so I wasn’t able to get an individual picture of him (just a group shot). We
traveled to another building for the afternoon interviews and were greeted with
some of our missionaries and their ward mission leader along with his son. The
leader wanted to take us out to eat for lunch, though we were arriving just on
time to start the scheduled interviews. He took us to eat at a restaurant which
specializes in serving dog meat. GROSS!! I didn’t make a gig fuss, though everyone knew
I didn’t want to try it. I ate one piece of the meat (riddled with fat and
stringy). I ate some of the strings/fibers of vegetables in the dish, and some
broth with the rice, but I just didn’t want to keep eating even just the plain
rice. Bleah!!!!! It made me not hungry/wanting to eat anymore! One thing that bothered
me (which I verbalized) was that I felt on display with everybody in the
restaurant (outdoor seating) staring at me/watching me eat/every move! I’m glad
the weather was nice enough for us to sit outside and not SWEAT into a melted
heap! As we were taking our shoes off before stepping onto the platform I could
smell a faint odor like Scout after a bath (you know what I mean=wet dog!). Dog
meat in Korean is gae gogi but the dish they eat all the time which has dog
meat is called bo shin tang.
We came home yesterday evening from interviews to find
Sister Lee preparing two huge bags of
garlic bulbs for future use(I wish I had taken a picture interesting how she
keeps the long stalk/stem on the bulb saying it is possible for more nutrients
to be absorbed and for the bulb to grow
bigger). At least I took this picture
wonder what kind of spicy food she is preparing for today’s meal after MLCM?!
Just driving by one of the police stations on the way to
church today.
Monday we took a missionary to the train station to go home
early from his mission. This elder hurt his knee playing soccer about five
weeks ago, was seen by a doctor but told to wait for a couple of weeks before determining
if he needed a MRI done or not, and it happened again over more time. It was
very frustrating for him. It was very frustrating for us. This elder had been
one of our office elders when we first arrived in Korea, so we knew him better
than we know most of the other missionaries. This elder is wonderful, very hard
working, and will be missed. It was a sad day for us. These pictures are of
Elder Kunde and Dad, through an infrared camera that was set up at the train
station. When we entered the train station Elder Kunde noticed this camera that
was set up near the entrance, with many wires attached and a couple of
officials posted there looking at the screen carefully. We went over there to
ask why the camera was set up and found out that anybody who enters with a fever
will be detected and evicted immediately; MERS scare/testing. The other day Dad
and I walked home by way of the police academy as a woman was entering the
grounds for a visit. Before going any further she had to be tested, by taking
her temperature in her ear, by the guard. Tuesday was another sad day for us as
we took another missionary to the airport to finish his mission early and fly
back home, by his choice. Dad worked so hard to have him stay on his mission.
Dad spent so many hours talking to this elder, then talking with his parents,
talking with the IFR (In Field Representative) who is stationed in New Zealand
working for the church dealing with Salt Lake and this area of the world in
particular, talking with the area president, talking with the elder’s stake
president back home, and talking with the elder many times throughout all these
other conversations. This has been going on for months, spending as many as 20
hours a week on this missionary and one other, besides all his regular
responsibilities. Dad was compassionate as he worked so hard to keep him on his
mission. It made me wonder how prepared does a missionary need to be before he
goes on his mission? How are parents helping or not helping prepare their child
to live away from home? What is the responsibility of the bishop in the application
process and even before then? What responsibility does a doctor have in
probing/asking in depth questions before signing off on the medical forms?
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