My Father Reichenbach

As Ben and I were traveling on the train to the airport in Incheon we passed by fields of farms with bales of hay wrapped in this white plastic protective covering that makes them look like giant marshmallows.

What a BUSY time Ben and I had while we visited Utah for Grandpa’s funeral!  Leslie Wasden picked us up from the airport-that was so nice of her, I enjoyed hearing about her family. She drove us down to Provo where we met Niki at her apartment complex for her to take Ben and for me to take the Acadia (I did great driving the car again after an eight month break from driving. I’m still not going to drive while in Korea!) so I could drive back up to Eileen’s home where my family was gathering for last minute family business/plans. I am grateful for the short time with my siblings to talk in a relaxed setting, without the pressures of meeting and greeting many people at either the viewing or the funeral. Afterwards I drove back down to Katie and Steven’s home (missing my exit by about 10 miles because I was talking with Bekah Morton on the phone!).  Thursday morning (February 19, 2015) Ben and I met Elder Massimini and Sister Scott at Hruska’s Kolaches for breakfast(I’ll send that photo next). It was fun to walk inside the shop and see Devin and Ross Hruska-giving Ross a hug!  Thursday afternoon I left early to drive up to Salt Lake for the viewing. Niki had gone up to eat lunch with the Powers (from her mission, meeting Sister Stewart as well), then getting dropped off at the Mortuary. I was successful in buying her a pair of flat black shoes to wear (she must have walked in barefoot or something-along with needing to change clothes-which the lady working there ended up ironing for Nik!). When I called Aunt Cynde she sounded stressed from a crazy day and asked me to pick up Grandma from the Wentworth as Aunt Kathy was picking up Uncle Dave from the airport. I was surprised to see Dave when I entered Grandma’s apartment, and Kathy was in the back helping Grandma get dressed for the viewing, and they drove her to the viewing. On my way up to the second floor I met Maria-the CNA who shared with Eileen the experience Grandma and she had with singing the hymn I Am A Child of God. Maria realized who I was and said she was going to cry, hurrying away, because she had fond feelings for the grandparents. She said I looked more like Grandma (even though I showed her the “slope" of my nose which I thick looks like my dad’s nose). She was sweet.  I was so grateful to see Bekah Morton at Larkin Mortuary. What a great friend she is to come all the way from Texas to make the flower arrangements and to take pictures for us. We did not get to talk much the whole weekend-so sad. But she did receive a phone call from Dad and let me talk to him. My phone was frustrating dealing with whatever the Korea phone plan is made it difficult to receive texts and phone calls. Come to find out Sister Morton (Janelle) was going to be transferred to our mission from the Daejeon Mission (all taking place while I’m here in the States)! One person who I was looking forward to seeing at the viewing was Sister Marilyn Witt, accompanied by her son, Evan. I wish I had been sitting by Grandma when Sister Witt came up to visit with her. The Witt’s were some of our very best friends back in Michigan. President Witt and Grandpa served in church callings together for so many years. Plus our families vacationed together and had our Christmas caroling tradition together. Great memories! After the viewing we went to Chipotle to get some dinner-Ben and Niki driving in the Acadia, me going with Alex and Genevieve in his truck, and Steven with his family in his car. When we walked into the restaurant we saw your cousin, Karl, and Becky finishing their meal-funny how we each thought to go to the same restaurant in Sandy-not even in Salt Lake or back in Provo!  Friday morning we drove up to Centerville to attend the funeral for Grandpa in the Jennings Lane ward building. I drove Ben and Steven early for song practice, meeting Alex and Niki there, with Katie driving Kelly a little later. I wonder if Bekah got any sleep that weekend as she took the time to make such beautiful flower arrangements (one from the siblings {my generation}, another from the grandchildren {you guys and Karl’s generation}, and a wreath from the great-grandchildren, along with one from Bear and Papa. There was another arrangement from Ross and Janice Hansen-so nice of them!). Plus she was already at the church for the funeral set up.  Before the funeral there was a time designated for another viewing (of Grandpa’s body-which drew people in attendance giving a chance to speak with Grandma). My mother’s memory is such that she did not remember the names of the people in her Utah ward over the past eight years or so. They were so sweet in reminding her of who they were as neighbors or her bishop, etc. And actually Ben told me that Aunt Cynde had to introduce Ben to Grandma because she could not remember his name. But I was so surprised and happy when Carolyn and Kim Bargeron walked in, friends from back in Midland, Michigan from over 45 years ago, and Grandma called them by name.  It was wonderful to see the many people who attended Grandpa’s funeral. 

I read Dad’s talk that he prepared, getting up super early to receive it from him. I wish he had been able to deliver it himself, I’ll send that to you next (positive comments about what Dad wrote). The only time I got emotional while reading it was when I mentioned "walking the streets of Korea" referencing our mission/Grandpa’s military service helping make our service possible. Kenzie, Steve, Steven, Alex, Niki, etc…were there singing Called to Serve with the returned missionary grandchildren. I felt just a bit bad about Ben not having a part on the program-it was nice to see the rest of you go up on the stand to sing as returned missionaries. I asked Ben how the music sounded-as I did not hear well as I was sitting on the stand and the voices of the singers projected outward.  After the funeral service the ward Relief Society sisters had prepared a nice luncheon for the family. There was a flurry of activity directly after the funeral so enough time lapsed that we needed to hurry and eat in order to get on the road up to the cemetery in Logan in time before the workers finished their workday. I was just so grateful to see Cheryl and Steve Eddington at the funeral service for my dad. What a difficult time it has been for Cheryl, losing her mother the same day as my father passed away. The funeral service for her mother was held earlier in the week so they attended this day. I’m sure it must be hard to deal with the memories and sadness-reminded again through another funeral service. They are so kind to help me at this time.  The drive up to Logan was fun for me to see snow flurries (each time it snowed while I was in Utah I felt like Heavenly Father was sending it just for me-happy memories of growing up in Michigan with snow!), good to be able to talk with Ben and Steven. We have good children! I miss talking and spending time with you guys!! The actual graveside service was nice having the military honors with the men presenting Grandma with the folded flag that draped Grandpa’s coffin. Thank you, Steven, for the nice prayer that went along with Uncle Phil dedicating the grave. My comment was very brief-using what Steven and Eileen had written about the last visits with Grandpa-"...in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."(D&C 6:28). I said my goodbyes there at the cemetery as Kathy and Cynde’s families each left town the next day.  Saturday morning Steven took Ben up to the Wentworth, meeting Alex there to help Uncle Duane load all of Grandma’s belongings into a U-Haul truck to drive her to live with Aunt Cynde and her family in Colorado Springs, CO. The guys worked hard for a couple of hours getting the work done. Ben got a haircut on the way home-so happy to have an American haircut rather than a Korean haircut. In the afternoon the guys went shooting and it began to snow on them. Saturday night Ben got his request to eat at Chick Fil A when we took Kelly there to play. Love the lemonade and milkshakes! Saturday night, real late, Alex and Genevieve brought over a dozen YUMMY cupcakes that Gabby had delivered from her mom-Denise Martinez-so fun! We shared them with the Eddington’s when we ate dinner at their home Sunday evening. Fun to see Brie and Brenna again! Happy baby time in the near future!  Katie and I attended a baby shower Saturday morning at Grandma Eddington’s home for Katie and Brie-family members were invited. Fun stories! Lots of cute babies playing around! Yummy food-that made us all sick over the next couple of days-ARG! We figured out we must have gotten food poisoning from the chicken salad from Costco. Poor Katie was sick all night into Sunday morning so Steven juggle getting Ben, Kelly, and me to church and taking care of Katie. They attend a very good ward that reminds me a bit of Sugar Land, as people who grew up in that ward are coming back to live in that same ward. A very nice woman taught Ben in Sunday School, searching me out to talk about Ben and the members of the class. I guess Ben was comfortable enough to say the closing prayer in Korean. Then during the combined YW/RS opening exercises I sat with Sister Carol Call next to Abby and Megan-girls from that Sunday School class who made it a point to say how fun Ben was in class. Steven’s neighbors reached out to say hello to me both Sundays I was there. Good people. Kelly sat on her seat all during Sacrament Meeting. She was all over that seat in many different positions, but she was quiet the whole time. Ben and I were even able to listen while a returned missionary spoke about his service the past two years in three different missions-Sierra Leone, Liberia, and then Ghana (evacuated from Liberia with the outbreak of ebola).  Ben and I left church to hustle over to the MTC where we met the Gilbert’s, the previous mission president and wife of the Korea Busan Mission. Lynn Gilbert is serving in one of the branch presidencies, over the Korean branch, at the MTC. They got Ben and I checked in as visitors before we attended the Korean branch Sacrament Meeting. We met our missionaries who will be coming in April (the foreign missionaries-the native Korean missionaries will spend just 10 days in the MTC so they weren’t at this branch). In the picture the tall missionary with the purple and black tie, Elder Martin, is from College Station, Texas and told me that his family knows the Matis family(Marianne Mohr’s family/maiden name) well. Small world; connections. And Ben had fun pointing out Korea on the MTC map, where we call home. It felt different being back in America; not really home. It felt different coming “home" to Korea; not really home. The whole time I was in America what I missed most was Who I missed, Dad and Ben and our missionaries. It’s good to be back.

Thursday morning, February 19, 2015, Ben arranged to meet Elder Massimini and Sister Scott for breakfast at Hruska’s Kolaches. It is so fun to have people try the kolaches (a Texas favorite) there because they taste so good! The funny thing about wearing my name tag while in Utah is that people are drawn to it/me/asking questions. I met a man inside the Hruska’s shop named Darin Graves who knows one of our missionaries in our mission. The missionary’s name is Elder Kale Smith; I guess from back home.  So we purchased our kolaches, walked out the door, and hadn’t even thought about where we would sit to eat them and talk, so my car was perfect for that. I asked the returned missionaries what was so hard about coming home from their missions. One of them said that it was hard to keep up a schedule that was spiritual like on their mission. It’s hard to devote that much time to scripture study and other activities that help you feel the Spirit all throughout the day. But I guess that was what was learned on their mission; how to build your life around the gospel of Jesus Christ-not just to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Another lesson learned was patience-when dealing with difficult companions. But when you view your companion how Heavenly Father views them-as a future bishop, or ward mission leader, or relief society president, or whatever and then try to help them work toward developing those attributes it made working with that person/companion easier. To see a person’s potential, to see a person how God sees them is a great lesson learned.  I love getting hugs from our missionaries! In the mission I can receive hugs only from the sisters; but after they return home I can receive them from both the sisters and the elders!  Coming home from the airport Dad was maybe going to be delayed and would have the office elders pick me up from the airport. I was thinking I was so happy to be back that I might even give them a hug! But I was happy to see Dad when I came through customs!!

I LOVE this picture of Kelly sitting on Niki’s lap. It was taken by Bekah at the viewing before my father’s funeral. Bekah is great at taking pictures as well as arranging flowers AND ESPECIALLY at being a friend-along with many other talents!! I am reminded of two scriptures for different reasons: Ether 1:41 and Proverbs 18:24.

What a great opportunity it was to take a picture with the Gilbert’s, who was the mission president before us in the Korea Busan Mission!

What a fun aunt Niki is to take Kelly shoe shopping! Shopping with Alex was fun as well. And we loved eating pizza and salad all together. I had some fun grandma time with Kelly for a day while Katie and Steven took care of some business. I enjoyed the times I was able to read to Kelly snuggled up on the couch. I loved singing the toothbrush song to her while she got her teeth clean. We also had fun singing Little Rabbit Fu Fu (bopping them on the head!). Niki and I were able to attend the temple one afternoon (Of course I had LOTS of questions! I miss my weekly trips to the temple-tough not having a temple in our mission.). That was nice spending time together, and I even saw Eva, our language tutor before going on our mission.

The previous picture of Leslie crawling through the cave was taking place behind us (underneath the cougar) in this picture. I hadn’t seen this museum for some time but wished I could have spent more time there. Fun! Free, too! Long days as I was up late at night the night before taking care of Niki who had vomited from food poisoning (Saturday baby shower food). I had vomited Monday early morning- before taking Ben to the airport. Luckily he did not get sick from me. When I was at Niki’s I felt useful and productive by washing the dishes in her apartment, the kitchen sink out, both toilets, both tubs, and swept and vacuumed. Sometimes doing the ³mom² jobs shows my love and make me feel needed. It was good to be able to help my children on this trip. They helped me lots, too!

Ok, Ok, Ok! You’ve each heard me talk about this enough-but I want to write it down to remember it. So I carried eleven different flavors/varieties of apples in my backpack all the way from Salt Lake City, to San Francisco, to Incheon/Seoul, to Busan. I don’t know how many security checks and conveyor belts my backpack cleared but after I took a few steps away after going through the system in Busan the worker lady came by and asked me to go through my backpack. They took my apples!!! I was so frustrated! I carried those apples all the way here and THEN they took them. I wanted to share the apples with Sister Lee because we only have one variety here in Korea. So sad! But I was able to buy a loaf of sour dough bread in the airport when I landed in San Francisco-which they allowed through. I had a threesome of sister missionaries over to help make a Texas Sheet Cake for MLCM the next day-and let them sample the bread. None of them had heard of the famous sour dough bread from San Francisco, before. New American cultural experience, even here in Korea.