Rewiring and Reunion

                I was the recipient of modern technology and medicine with ablation on the left atrium of my heart. The surgery is done using tools threaded through two veins and an artery and is very precise as it targeted an area identified as damaged. Wayne said that as I awakened from the surgery I answered all the questions from the nurse in Korean so he acted as translator. The hospital bed I was placed in had a mind of its own and randomly called the nurse or readjusted itself through the night. Wayne stayed in the room with me and slept through all the excitement. They changed the bed in the morning just before they released me to go home. I had wonderful care and was able to come home with my nifty ECG device that records my heart ECG through an app on my phone.

Doing baby songs with Henry

                While I was in the hospital my children and grandchildren began to gather. Debbie and her children arrived first and were here when Wayne brought me home from the hospital.     Aaron came followed by Michael with his family. Wayne treated a group of family to a viewing of the new Star Wars movie.

                The next morning Michael took the cousins to the Nickel Arcade that his friend, Dan, owns. They love to go play laser tag and compete to see who can amass the most tickets from the games they play. Playing and being together were the memories they will keep.

                We rented a lodge in Garden City with a beautiful view of Bear Lake. There was room for everyone to sleep and lots of activities we could do indoors. Our plans for snow play didn’t work because our only snow was a dusting of fluffy powder in time for a white Christmas. It was good for snow angels and tromping around. All the family assembled except Kara who is in North Carolina as a missionary. I think the count was 30 plus one Chinese foreign exchange student.

                On Saturday our children planned a celebration for our 50^th Wedding Anniversary with a wonderful meal, the chocolates served at our wedding reception, hand-made ornaments for the tree with our wedding photo, quiz games for Wayne and I that made everyone laugh, music from the grandchildren, a custom quilt with a block representing our milestones together, and a commemorative Christmas Stocking for everyone to remember this Christmas together. We certainly felt very loved.

                We celebrated Christmas with church attendance on Christmas Eve, dramatizing the Christmas story with props and costumes, and reading the story from Luke. There were matching pajamas, pictures, puzzles, karaoke, and carols. I love singing with my family.

Christmas morning there was a special brunch. a visit from Santa, and lots of presents.

This year, giving seemed to be more important than the gifts each received. The time together was a bit of heaven. I collected LOTS of hugs and read stories to the grandchildren every evening after our family devotional. It was wonderful to be taught by my children and grandchildren.

New Adventures in a Familiar Place

Our first week in Utah seemed like a whirlwind. We went from one appointment or activity to the next and tried to settle back into our house in the cracks. Here are some of the things we did:

• Doctor appointments at the University of Utah to check out the A-fib with my heart. The images were clear and the damage minor but serious enough that the doctor will ablate my heart on Monday.
• First visits with our great-grandson, Henry; and becoming reacquainted with his big sister, Olivia. Henry warmed up as soon as Grandpa fed him fresh blueberries. Olivia waited until Grandma had a tea party with her.
• Reunion with other grandchildren who were not able to meet us at the airport. Tyler finished his semester at Utah State and came to help us move heavy tools from our basement to the garage. He also gave us tech advice.
• Reunion with my siblings. My brother and his wife who live in Denver flew in for a sibling’s luncheon and we spent a few hours in heaven together. My brother and his wife who are in Phoenix participated electronically but came to hear us speak.
• Musical performances for our grandchildren. Graigry performed with a BYU university orchestra and we enjoyed hearing live orchestra music again. Ashlyn and Emily sing and dance with Clayton Productions and we were able to see one of their final holiday performances.
• Greeting people, we haven't seen in 18 months in Costco and in our church activities, catching up on the changes that have happened while we were away and getting to know new people who have moved in around us.
• New telephones so we can communicate in America. We didn't expect that task to consume as much time.
• Celebrating our 50^th wedding anniversary by making a decision and purchasing a car for transportation. It's a white Camry hybrid SE.
• Preparing a talk for our large ward plus many visiting family members. Our daughters planned food for a luncheon afterwards that lasted until dark. We were surprised by some of my cousins as well as siblings, nieces, nephews, and their children. My mother’s sister, Aunt Joana, spent most of the day. It was a happy reunion.

Full Circle

                This week brought us full circle back to our home in Orem, Utah. We started the week at the office of the garrison commander. We were scheduled to receive the “Volunteer Service” medal next week from the Col. Newton when he returned to his office but we couldn’t arrange a change in travel so Wayne Johnson and his boss read the formal citation and made the presentation on our last day on post. We stopped by the Education Office to see how our soldiers did on their posttests. Even the soldier with TBI jumped four grade levels. A soldier from a former class had just completed his formal test and was waiting for the results. When he was told it was 105 we were a little disappointed. He said that he was very happy. It was ten points higher than he had before and was high enough to qualify for the new position (MOS) he was hoping to achieve. He wanted us to know that we had made a difference for him.

   

             We had our final Family Home Evening with the soldiers and our African who just submitted his missionary papers came, too. Wayne gave his presentation on creation in the universe and one of our officers was true to his word to free up our Jamaican soldier who has become as close as a granddaughter to us so she could bid us farewell. I didn’t think she would let us go. One other officer was able to stop by and he brought a nonmember soldier with him. That made the number even with two LDS and two non-LDS soldiers. We had good success in having the soldiers from all faiths join us as we studied the New Testament this year.

    

                            Tuesday, we packed our bags, gave the Bowman’s a tour of the apartment, and rode to Seoul with Pres. and Sister Sonksen to finish up final tasks before leaving.

                One of those was a final dinner of black chicken soup. That chicken with black skin was small enough to fit inside a normal soup bowl, was stuffed with rice and flavored with ginseng root. It was quite tasty but a little hard to bone and eat with chopsticks. We were joined by the office couple, Andersons, and the medical couple, Whitings. We enjoyed a quiet evening at the mission home and then had our last sleep in South Korea.

                Wednesday morning was a totally free day because we experienced it twice. The first time, we walked to the National Palace to tour the museum. We learned so much about the palace and history of the empire that we wished we had started our touring here rather than ending. We then walked to one of the most beautiful Buddhist Temples in Korea and looked around. There were three huge gold Buddhas with many people there worshiping. A small processional emerged from one building and gathered near an altar. When they filed out they placed papers in a fire that disintegrated into wisps of white paper blowing in the air. The day was relatively warm and the sky was clear, a lovely day for being a tourist in Seoul. We changed our won into dollars and rode the tour bus one more loop around the main tour district before returning to the mission home for our ride to the airport.

                Sister Sonksen was our chauffer and we enjoyed one last look at Seoul and its beautiful bridges before joining Pres. Sonksen and the Robinsons to begin our check in at the airport to return to Utah.

       

         Now here we are emptying the same suitcases we packed eighteen months ago. Everything is the same and yet everything is different. We are so thankful for this incredible opportunity to serve as representative of Jesus Christ to share the joy of being a member of His restored gospel. We have loved feeling his guiding hand each day and know that it will continue as we begin a new chapter in our lives. God lives and He loves you. He is always near inviting us to return home.

For the last time

                This week was the beginning of events that would be happening for the last time here in South Korea. Even though the most frequently asked question lately is, “When will you be back?” Reality is that we probably will never return especially not as military relations missionaries in Area 1. This question has given us the opportunity to share with those people why we were here. It warms my heart that they want us to return and hurts my heart to bid farewell to people who we have grown to love, to people who have been so very kind to us.

                I refilled a prescription at the pharmacy and we said farewell to the receptionist who has followed our health care and found immediate openings for us to be seen for anything that afflicted us from a suspicious skin spot to potentially serious heart arrythemia. The pharmacist called me the next day after having reviewed all my records to make sure I had obtained my blood thinner at a Korean pharmacy because I hadn’t renewed my prescription with her. It’s easy to see why it is difficult to part with people who have loved and cared for us so tenderly.

                The next “last time” was Dong District Meeting. They came to our apartment so we could attend and to help eat all the sugary snacks that need to be cleared from my cupboards. We have served with many of these missionaries for many months and watched them grow in leadership, missionary, and personal skills. Working with the young missionaries has been one of the highlights of being a senior missionary. There is reasonable hope that we will see all of our missionaries again one day in Utah as they come to Utah County to school or we gather for mission reunions. They are already lighting the world one smile at a time.

                Our next “last time” was teaching our soldiers in their BSEP Review Class. This has been a smaller group and many of them began with lower scores and skills than we have seen in earlier classes. One soldier recently experienced a head injury and had definite signs of TBI. He relearned everything every day. Another soldier was very bright but his family situation required that he drop out of school after the 8^th Grade to provide support to them. He was quick to learn every new thing but had a gap to bridge to his goal. Many of the soldiers have a wife and young children they are struggling to support and class time is prime time to Facetime with their families. Their results won’t be in until after we return to Utah. We will leave our files and slides with the Bowmans and trust that they will experience similar joy in teaching these soldiers.

                MWR (I haven’t learned what all the acronyms stand for) wanted to take us out to eat on our last day of teaching but the office assistant gave us the option of eating her home cooked spaghetti instead. She is a wonderful cook from Russia so we chose her cooking. The director of MWR came with lovely gifts and the other staff at the Education Center came to bid farewell and enjoy the wonderful food.

                We promised to show the Bowmans a wonderful Korean restaurant in our neighborhood that is tucked inside one of the little draws on the West Mountains. They grow all their own produce and purchase their meat locally so the quality of the food is wonderful. We used a Korean with very limited English to help us order. The servers were very solicitous of our experience with their restaurant and food so we had wonderful care as we explored foods even Wayne and I hadn’t seen before. We had beef 볼거기 which is a favorite traditional dish here in Korea with almost innumerable sides.

                Our sweet sister missionaries gave us a book with notes from branch members and missionaries for us to remember on our last Sunday in our final fast and testimony meeting here in South Korea. Wayne and I both took the opportunity to share one last testimony with those we have come to love. We want them to remember that we know that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is our redeemer and exemplar, that the priesthood of God has been restored to the earth so that the sacred ordinance can be performed that we can be sealed to our families forever. More than one tear was shed but I don’t think it will be our last before we leave Korean soil.

Thanksgiving Celebration

                We only met with soldiers three days this week because of Thanksgiving. We did our best to work them hard and encourage them to study during their break. Our Russian receptionist at the Education Center cooked Cajun-Korean chicken and SPICED vegetables on Wednesday. Then we moved on to the USO to a more traditional Thanksgiving meal. There were extra turkey bones and stock so we came home with the base for turkey soup.

                On Thursday we had a big crowd at the soldier’s dining hall for an American Thanksgiving meal. Our fellow senior missionaries, the Robinsons, came up from Seoul because there is no Thanksgiving this week there and they missed Thanksgiving last year. They will be on our flight home with us. Our sister missionaries invited all the soldiers who have been attending their Korean language class and four of them joined us for the meal. Only one of our student soldiers was there and she was scheduled for three Thanksgiving meals. Our district leader brought his greenie companion up from Uijeonbu and they ate like they hadn’t seen food since they left their mother’s kitchen.

                As we ate, a soldier who said he had just come from praying that he could find the church recognized our name tags and was so excited to have such a quick answer to his prayer. He was in church on Sunday in time to partake of the sacred sacrament.

                Two mobile missile launchers stopped by so a celebrity they were escorting could shake hands with the soldiers. 

             After we stuffed ourselves with American food we seldom see in Korea, we went to the chapel annex where we have Family Home Evening.  A few of the soldiers who wanted to escape their barracks and be with others on a family day joined us. Sister Bowman brought a music video to remind us we were celebrating Thanksgiving and game that was similar to Apples to Apples. After the video we played the game around a large table for about an hour with lots of giggling and fun.

               Friday was chilly but sunny so we decided to finish our Christmas shopping in Seoul. The market is at the East Gate of the old city wall of Seoul. We have ridden past it often but we took time to take pictures and walk along the remnants of the ancient wall. We even stopped to order a custom suit for Wayne on our way home.

              Saturday is the day we get ready for Sunday. The Korean sisters trusted us not only to bring sugary, American cake, but also the carrots and cucumbers for the Bibimbop.   

Sunday was a Korean language day so all the talks were spoken in Korean and translated into English. Wayne and I did our best to understand the Korean before we heard the ideas in English. Our African sister was here with her boys hoping we were having Relief Society. We found a little room we could heat with a space heater and she agreed to choose the lesson and lead the discussion. Her topic was testimony. She holds fast to her testimony through economic trials and isolation from extended family and her own culture.

               The Korean sisters laid out the table for the Bibimbop. Everything has its precise place on the table. Notice how we use our hands to communicate. The great thing about Bibimbop is that you build it yourself with rice and lots of vegetables, a little meat and a soft fried egg. You also have control over the amount of red sauce you add for flavor. Wayne was accused of not adding enough for him to even taste. After eating the leftovers are shared so everyone goes home with ingredients for a full meal.

Loving Father

                We address our Heavenly Father with the same word we give our earthly father. It reminds us of his intimate concern for our welfare and his never changing love. One of our words this week was gravity—which means being drawn towards. While the gravitational force of the earth draws us to its surface, there is a similar force from our Heavenly Father that draws us to him with an unexplainable desire to be close to him, to return to him.            

                We started teaching one more class of soldiers this week and there on the center aisle was a soldier with a name tag we have been keeping our eye out for since September. His unit rotated to Camp Casey in July and his mother asked another soldier who is also in South Korea but far away from here if he could find him. That soldier is on the Military District Council with Wayne and asked if he would watch for him. Sure enough, he bleeds pure blue, a faithful BYU sports fan and LDS. He’ll look at our name tags for three weeks and be reminded of who he is and the direction of his home.   

                 I’m trying to find corners of time to do some walking so I followed a trail near the Education Center during one of my teaching breaks and came upon this little burial ground. I share a story of one of our forefathers or mothers with our grandchildren each week. I wondered about the stories of these grandparents whose resting place is so lovingly groomed. I feel a draw to my grandparents who honored their faith by their service to family, church, neighbors, and community. I am thankful to know that one day I will meet them and be welcomed into their loving arms.

                I had just started my weekly shopping when a soldier asked me when I would be going home. He had undoubtedly seen me before and knew I was here for a limited time. We were alone in a corner of the store and he took time to share with me that he had grown up in a faithful LDS family complete with graduation from early-morning seminary. When he made the choice to join the Army instead of going on a mission, he quit going to church altogether. Now he was feeling the pull to return to his faith, make some changes in his life course, and come closer to his Heavenly Father. I wasn’t in his path at that moment by chance. God is in the details of our lives always inviting us to “come unto him.”

On weeks when we are teaching our district of missionaries shift their meeting to our apartment so we are able to attend with them. I’ve noticed a pattern of the zone leaders attending our district meeting on that week. It may just be the draw of the American sweets I share when they come or it may be the fellowship we feel as we gather in a close group, sing and pray together and learn from one another. What a joy it has been to be tutored by these young people. Transfers are this week so our Korean sister will be returning home. Only senior missionaries avoid a transfer so we will undoubtedly experience more changes.

While Wayne was tutoring soldiers in math, I went for a walk in the park. I found a harmony (grandmother) picking these tiny red berries from the tree. They looked like wonderful food for the winter birds to me, but she was holding the branch low with one hand and picking the tiny berries with the other to put in her cart. I stopped and just started picking because I knew she would appreciate the help but she would also refuse it. We gleaned all the berries within our reach on the first tree and she communicated to me in her Korean that it was cold and told me 갑시다  which means, “Let’s go.” I finally put my gloves on my very cold hands and started to walk away. Then she went to the second tree and started to pick so I went back and didn’t leave her until she turned her cart toward home. She had about a gallon of the berries. I have no idea what she will do with them, but I noticed that she didn’t put any of them in her mouth so I didn’t either. I wonder if the next generation will continue the traditions of their mothers in gathering the foul smelling gingko berries, pulling out the seeds, drying them and then shelling them. Or, gathering these seeds or the acrid acorns or the greens that grow along the river in the spring. As I watched her walk away I wondered how I could feel so much love for this little woman I had just met. I think it is part of the connection to our Heavenly Father which makes us sisters.

Joyful Communities

             

             We had the opportunity to interact with a variety of happy communities this week. Our Family Home evening picture is missing MSgt. Lyse who has been with us on temporary duty for a special exercise that began on Sunday. He provides insight and experience to the young adults who meet with us. Five is a big group for us yet small enough that we love being together and sharing a love for Jesus Christ as we study his life in the New Testament. 

             My neighbors have been making kimchi and harvesting the white radishes. Some of the radishes they use to make kimchi but I noticed large sheets of them drying in pieces that look like French fries and then another set of neighbors were washing and bundling smaller radishes that they might sell. They dry the radish tops and I have no idea what they use them for.

            Notice how the cabbages are cut into quarters to be salted and soaked in brine to draw out much of their water before they put them into the red pepper paste they use to ferment them.  You can get an idea how large the red tub is that they use to mix the kimchi. Our farmer from our Jihang group at church gave us two large cabbages so we could make our own kimchi. That little community of saints that gather together has become very dear to us.             

            This is one of my favorite “harmonies” (grandmothers) with a small dish of cabbage that has been soaked in the brine and then rinsed ready to put in the hot sauce.

I think this is her daughter standing by the kimchi that is still left in the tub. She has been transferring it to the containers that will store it through the winter.

This is a full group shot of one set of neighbors who used the sidewalk in front of their house to prepare the cabbages and make the kimchi. Because kimchi has so many steps and is so much work, they almost never make it alone. It is a family project much like bottling fruit and making fruit preserves that I did with my family in the fall.

I spent most of my week reorganizing my materials so Sister Bowman can begin to teach some of the reading comprehension lessons next week. Wayne was faithful in watching the desk at the USO. We both met evenings with soldiers still preparing to take their promotion exams. One of them took his exam this week and scored 114 which will help him achieve his dreams. He was our soldier from Cameroon.

Our weekend adventure took us to Seoul for a Zone Conference with the community of young missionaries. This will be our last Zone Conference before we return home so we were asked to give, 마지막, or final testimony. My heart started up in my throat and my eyes seemed more like waterfalls when I stood, but then I calmed and was able to speak and share my love for our Savior Jesus Christ and my joy in having this opportunity to be on His errand for a few months. Wayne shared similar sentiments but without the water display. We took lots of pictures, gave lots of hugs, and made promises to keep in touch with missionaries we have served with who are in other areas of the zone and will continue their service for a few more months. They all got smart phones this week so they learned how to be smart with those phones and use them for missionary purposes (and not selfies).

President and Sister Sonksen hosted a dinner for all the senior missionaries in the Seoul South Korea Mission so we could be together one last time as a community of seniors before we return. Sister Robinson, with her hand on my shoulder, and her husband will return with us on December 6^th. They have done a wonderful work as public relations missionaries and live in St. George. There were three couples who are relatively new, the Bowmans, the Ulvestads, and the Whitings, so we were able to become better acquainted with them. The office couple, also named Anderson, will complete their mission only a few months after we return. Our get acquainted activity was to share one thing we had learned about our spouse while we have served with them as a missionary. These seniors who serve as missionaries and then do it again and again are pretty amazing.           

               We stayed the night at the mission home and then struck out for an adventure in shopping on Saturday morning. We got on the bus that doesn’t go all the way to Seoul Station which is a mistake we have done before. It gave us a chance to do a short river walk in the middle of the city where they already have lots of fun displays set up in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics. These are the mascots for the games doing a little advertising.

                At Seoul Station there is an overhead walkway that crosses this busy street and ends up in a market famous for its bargains. We hadn’t visited it yet so we decided to explore and see if we could find something small enough to fit inside our suitcases to bring home to our family for Christmas. There were so many little shops in a labyrinth of streets that it was pretty overwhelming. I managed to spend every won in Wayne’s wallet in a short period of time. It was a fun adventure in the big city but we were happy to return to our little dong.