October 2015 Part 1

We took the subway then got off and walked for about a half an hour to the Gamcheon Culture Village. It was an upward climb, fairly steep, kind of reminding me of San Francisco. The Village was established by refugees from the Korean war back in the fifties. It was very run down until it was transformed into an arts and culture village in 2010. The village is on the side of a very steep hill--buildings look like they’re stacked right on top of each other.

I liked how this big picture looks made from these simple small wooden boards that are colored brightly and uniquely. There must be a way to make a similar art project using construction paper.

More of the colorful small boards. I noticed the Batman one in between the couple in the picture.

From the baptism Sunday, October 11, 2015.

 I love to hear the music our missionaries play. Sometimes I get surprises. When we walked into the room at the church in one of the church buildings last week, while waiting for his turn to interview with president, Elder Oh Gitaek was playing the piano. I didn¹t know that he could play the piano. He told me who his trainer had been (you might remember seeing the video clip of a Korean elder playing the violin at the train station right before he left for home), Elder Kim, taught him how to play the piano. He went from plucking out a hymn using one finger to memorizing a song and playing it like this.  Other surprises have been comments when I asked the question who the first convert in their family was on their moms side and their dad side, along with how their parents met. I took a picture of one elder as he talked about his mom so cute the way his eyes lit up and he was so animated.  Another elder didn¹t realize his aunt had served a mission, another elder talked of his Hawaiian relatives link to royalty, a sister got teary eyes thinking of her father and how hard he worked to support his family through school saying back some money reminding me of the story in the movie Cinderella Man aging back the government welfare. One elder spoke of his father’s love for his mother who is 18 years younger than his father. One missionary is the first member of his family to join the church fearful acknowledging how his life has changed, while another elder cannot remember how far back or how many family members stretch back to the early days of the church. They are all so different and so interesting! Everybody has a story to tell. Everybody can learn from this Transfer assignment to fill out the My Family Stories That Bring Us Together booklet.

When we travel to areas we bring the mail from home to the missionaries, along with any supplies like copies of the Book of Mormon or whatever else they order from the mission office.  Also, we have brought CO detectors and other such items. This time we brought two yeos or sleeping pads for a companionship. Most of the missionaries in our mission use a yeo to sleep on, though a few use a bed.  Most of the yeos were so old that they had been flattened down. Over time Sister Lee has made at least 50 yeos to replace the old ones; buying foam to insert into new fitted covers that she has sewn, that fold up by thirds to be stacked by the walls of the missionaries apartments.  These missionaries will have to travel a couple of hours on crowded city buses, changing buses, while carrying these bulky yeos. They found it easier to keep the plastic bag over them, for something to hold on to.