Celebrating

Elder and Sister Cannon serve in Seoul and used my birthday as a reason to come visit the country away for the horns and people.

We had a good rain over the weekend that swelled the rivers and streams. The last time Wayne and I were at Soyosan this waterfall was really just wet rock. Today the trail was dotted with waterfalls. It was delightful and even more fun to share it with someone who appreciated it.

Even though we stopped at all the cool places we had found on our previous hikes, we reached the point where we turned around the last time quickly. The next section of the trail was a series of steep but very short stairs. At the apex of two staircases was this fun arch and a bell to ring to celebrate your climb.

A little farther up the mountain we discovered this Buddhist temple inside the mountain. The sign indicated that when the Confucius religion gained dominance in Asia that the Buddhists fled into the mountains for safety. I could relate to that. Isn’t that exactly what our pioneer grandparents did?

In the more recent years the Buddhist priests have built this little shrine that is a bit of a tourist destination that provides a way for them to raise money to support their secluded lifestyle. It was a wonderful adventure for the four of us. We walked back along the river to see the change in the habitat with the additional water.

Elder and Sister Cannon baked me a gluten-free cake complete with candles at our Family Home Evening activity. We didn’t have any soldiers there so it was just three sets of missionaries sharing our testimonies with one another.

We spent most of our week at the USO. The rotational battalions are rotating so there are new soldiers coming in, learning their way around, and getting a Korean phone. The soldiers rotating out needed a place to hang out after they checked out of their barracks and while they waited for the bus to take them to the airport. We did our best to welcome the new soldiers and make the last few hours here in Korea pleasant for the soldiers so ready to be back with their families. We had a great turnout at our fellowshipping evening with a wonderful mix of new soldiers, soldiers soon to leave, and friends of our member soldiers happy to be a part of our activities.

On our trip to Seoul this week we figured out which trains to catch to bring us directly home, a first for us. The Korean grandmothers at the stations greet us warmly and chatter away. We love their smiling faces and dancing eyes as they try to help understand. We keep doing our best to increase our vocabulary and listen with our eyes and our ears so that we can understand and converse with these kind people.

We feel blessed to serve here as representatives of Jesus Christ in this beautiful country with so many kind people.