We are no longer the new kids on the block here in the Northern Branch or Area 1. There is a bit of a routine to our days and weeks. We recognize by sight and know something about our soldiers and now they are beginning to return to their families in the U.S. The first one leaves this week. New soldiers will be sent as replacements. I helped our Relief Society president organize visiting teaching for the twelve sisters in our branch. Almost all of them need to be visited at the church building because of distance and work schedules. There is a 2.5 hour distance between two of our sisters.
I spent a chunk of time constructing this family for our new member so he will have family names to take to the temple and know his roots in the gospel. One generation back and he ties into a tree in Family Search with cousins who are members. All he knew about this grandmother was her married name, a nickname, her death date, and where she lived and died. Family Search is amazing with ten sources to document and cross reference these relationships. I love working with the dead because they always help me and never cancel an appointment.
Wayne is amazing in his interactions with the old men who exercise early in the park. He practices his Korean and they practice their English. Each day they have more questions. Every week there are more men (couples) who see him as someone to smile, greet, and talk with. He is already trying to explain his role as a missionary. He is on the District Council; their meetings are held online using Skype and work well. He helps the soldiers with their copy, printing and fax needs at the USO and does everything from blessing the sacrament to saying prayers to fill in at meetings. He is our permanent high council speaker because we are so far away.
These are sesame leaves that I plucked from the stems with a Korean grandmother. She was working at the task and accepted my offer to help. She seemed pretty friendly and tried to talk with my limited Korean. Some of the words I thought I knew she couldn’t understand, but I think we communicated that we are both old; I don’t think either of us understood just how old the other is. We tried to share numbers in our family but she didn’t understand my pronunciation of grandchildren. I think we established that both of us live in these apartment buildings. She seems to have visited Los Angeles. There were lots of dead spaces in the conversation. I kept at the job even though it was hot and the rock I was sitting upon was not very comfy. As we finished she thanked me and insisted on giving me a whole bunch of the leaves. I tried to convince her to give me less, but decided that it probably would be rude if I did not take any. I was told that Koreans like to put these leaves inside their lettuce wraps so Wayne and I tried them on our sandwich and they have quite a delightful taste of mint.
We caught a ride to the Seoul Temple with our Branch President this morning and enjoyed a wonderful morning doing ordinance work there. We decided to take the train home and took this picture in one of the train stations. I have made flash cards with the Korean words and phrases and we take them with us to pass the time on the long ride. Today I had harvested some words that I hoped to use from a book, but I was pretty unsure exactly how they were said in Korean. So, I asked the Korean lady sitting next to us. She was kind and read several words to me and was patient while I tried to mimic her sounds. Later, while we waited in a very hot train station another Korean man was kind enough to help me with a phrase I hoped to say and then we talked about his brother who lives in California now. He showed me pictures on his phone and I showed him pictures of Southern Utah on my phone. It seems to make the Koreans happy to see us trying to learn their language.
We met more of the senior missionaries who are serving here in Korea and they were eager to share the things they do to support the soldiers. It reminded me of Pres. Uckdorf’s counsel to “Lift where you stand.” Each of us in a unique position to support others and each is equally important. Jesus Christ is our example and our eternal destination. He seeks to draw all men to him. We each do our little part to help those in our path. He lives. He loves us. He wants us to return.
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