Saturday
afternoon Dad had Priesthood leadership meeting so Ben, Janet, and I sat in
another room that had an air conditioner in it (wall units in some of the
rooms). Once in a while someone would come in and want to practice speaking
English to us. One time our sister missionaries came in and shared some
chocolate that they received from a man who attends their English class (has
been a regular attendee for the past 5 years).
Before the conference session President Lee,
the stake president, came and found us to invite us down to another room to eat
a snack before the meeting started. There were kim bop (dried seaweed wrapped
around rice with some other vegetables or tuna or something rolled up in it),
and rice balls wrapped in a breaded sort of something. They had juice or milk
to drink (thinking Americans liked the milk best while Koreans liked the juice
best). The juice was pressed and strained and collected over a number of days.
The people are so humble and grateful and kind and they go way out of their way
to provide a meal for us, treating us like royalty.
Saturday evening for stake conference I had to
speak, Dad did not. So he would say things like “it’s so relaxing to sit here
and not have to do/say anything”둱ust to bug me!
Sounds like him, huh! I spoke on family councils likening them to ward councils
or mission leadership councils adapt it to your individual needs. I used Elder
Ballard’s June 2003 Ensign talk; here are a few quotes:
"Whenever there are two or more members
of a family together and a discussion is going on, that is a council! Family
councils can be held in one-on-one talks between a parent and a child or among
parents and several children. When a husband and wife talk to each other, they
are holding a family council. I think of the traditional definition that says a
family council is a time when a father and mother sit down and go through a
list of dos and don’ts with their children. The more stress there is on a
family, the more important family councils become. The key for a single parent
and other parents as well as to take advantage of informal counseling
opportunities with a child. They might be while driving in the car, doing the
dishes, or in the morning and evening just before prayers. When communication
with Heavenly Father breaks down, communication between spouses also breaks
down. And Heavenly Father will not interfere. He doesn’t generally intrude
where He is not invited. But if we ask, great blessings will flow."
I guess I never thought of family councils as
a one-on-one time with my child or husband but every time I drove Niki or Ben
home from school that was a council, even though we laughed and joked and had
fun. It’s good to keep them relaxed and fun.
It was fun for me to look down from the stand
to see Ben sitting with Victor and Janet Harris on the same row. And then a few
minutes later Sister Morton (Janelle) and her companion came into the meeting
and sat down right next to Ben. I was able to take a picture of Janet with Janelle!
Fun! Long drive back home that night. The parking lot is so small and we got blocked
in mostly but AMAZINGLY Dad got the car out with Victor directing him!!!
Early morning leave to drive back to the
church building. But guess what!? We got to church very early because it
started at 11:00 not at 10:00 like every other time. We got there so early the
church was still locked and a few older members were sitting beside the bushes
and then Ben and I sat on the steps while Dad was practicing his talk in the
car.
President Lee, the stake president, is a
wonderful, humble man who would walk up to the podium to give his talk, take a
step back and bow to the congregation, and then step back up to the podium to
begin speaking. He told of one person’s switch of plans from speaking in
conference to leaving the country a week earlier. President Lee said that his
son could speak in conference but that they would just wait to see what
happens. When Victor and Janet came into the Saturday night session with Ken President
Lee asked them to speak in stake conference the following day, on Sunday. They
were an answer to his prayers!! They didn’t seem nervous at all, doing a great
job of speaking. One of our sister missionaries stood up to the podium with a
hand held microphone to translate for me and then for Janet. Another man stood
to translate for Victor. Victor had given him a copy of his talk ahead of time
but the man still took so much time translating each sentence. It is such a
different experience to speak using a translator. Because of the timing of the
meeting and the way the first speaker started off I changed my talk to more of
a testimony. Just one part of that is a quote: "Our Father in heaven loves
us more deeply than we can understand. Each one of us is important to Him. He wants us to return to live with Him and
Jesus again. He wants us to communicate with Him in prayer, to tell Him of our
love, and to show our love by obeying His commandments. Through obedience we
can become more like Him, developing those qualities of character that He wants
His children to have.”
After
lunch we took this picture all together. The Harris’ and then next is the stake
president and his wife (President Lee, I don’t know what his wife’s name is). President Lee surprises me
with how funny he is (another picture will follow). He did a good job of
speaking English with us. On the other
side of Dad is one of the counselors in the stake presidency followed by the
other counselor and his wife. This counselor is very musical and he led the
choir in the special musical numbers. They loved singing the Battle Hymn of the
Republic (an American song!).
Sunday
night we ate leftovers for dinner. Think about that’s what great friends the Harris’ are to not complain about
eating leftovers! Or to be told to help themselves to the fridge for breakfast
because we had a bit if a crazy schedule. I think one of my favorite memories is walking
into the living room and finding both Ken and Victor asleep on the couches...I
love that they felt comfortable enough to stretch out and really relax!
Sunday
night Victor and Janet attended our staff meeting with us along with our AP’s,
office elders, and senior couple missionaries who are the secretary and financial secretary. The got a
glimpse of the behind the scenes workings and they stayed through it all even
though it had been a long day already.
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