Contrasts

One of our major focuses this week was doing missionary apartment checks. The missionaries are good about meeting us at a train station and walking us to their apartment. There are two apartments in each area—one for elders and one for sisters. That means that we need to find our way between apartments and this week it was in Seoul. These are two of the sisters we visited. One is from the
Philippines so she had a little more English than the one from Korea. The other two sisters were both from Korea so communication is just part of the adventure.

This is a picture of the mountains beyond the busy streets at the end of the Seoul subway line to the northeast. The haze is pollution and humidity. This section of the city was nestled between these granite mountains.

The most beautiful sight in the city was the autumn leaves. We do lots of walking and most of the time we only have an approximate idea where we are, but we trust the GPS on our Google Maps, ask a Korean where to go or call with an SOS for someone to come find us. Being lost in Seoul is no longer a novelty. The good news is that we feel pretty comfortable once we find a train station. We only went the wrong direction once this week, but we figured it out before the next stop. Once we were on a train
so packed that it could qualify as a New York elevator and then more people pushed themselves into the train car. BUT, we were on a train and headed home. The train is almost always mostly empty when it reaches our station so we just wait for a seat to open.

I am usually successful in finding someone to talk with on a train. Sometimes it’s just practicing my memorized Korean phrases and sometimes they speak some English. I am learning a few more phrases to extend the conversation. One fun exchange was with an infant about 9 months old. Her
mother put her on the seat beside me and I taught her some English.

We decided to walk west today to see what lies nestled in the low mountains there. We found it a complete contrast from the busy streets of Seoul. First of all, we discovered these mound burial plots nestled right up against the trees and not very far from the summit. They are well kept with beautiful granite stones.

This one had a stone structure that could be a tomb. It probably contains the remains of a more prominent citizen because there were other stone statues (carved monoliths) on the same site. One of the monoliths had a dragon with a ball (probably the world) in its mouth and another had a cat of some kind climbing its side.

There were small plots of farmland all cultivated and harvested by hand. The road was just one lane and the dwellings and their people looked like they stepped out of another century. Huge machinery is right next to the road building a new elevated road or railway line. There is already a tunnel cut into the mountain for it to pass through. A very large middle school sits next to the river and just behind in these mountain dwellings everything is done by hand. It’s no wonder food is so expensive here.

We did encounter our very first local wildlife besides the birds. This lovely bull snake was trying to warm itself in the roadway. It was lethargic enough that it didn’t move when we passed but it was gone when we returned.

In every hidden pocket we seem to find a Buddhist temple and sanctuary. These two very large stone statues are twice the size of a man with so many smaller statues near them that I didn’t begin to count them. There was a bronze laughing Buddha at the entrance of the area and two very noisy dogs that were chained. We didn’t ever see a person.

We had a wonderful Family Home Evening this week taught by a recent member. He is determined to use this time without children hanging on him to learn as much as he can about the history of the church and its doctrine. We had our largest attendance ever, but two of the soldiers leave for gunnery field practice so we won’t see them for a month. This battalion will rotate out to the field over the next few months which will give is a variation in the soldiers we see.

I think one of my favorite times of the day is the language and scripture study with Wayne. This week we finished reading Mormon. It’s amazing how Moroni can have hope when he has just witnessed the
destruction of his whole civilization. He is all alone; his life is in peril every moment; yet he has hope in Jesus Christ and shares it with those who will come after.

The U.S. election doesn’t quite count as the end of our civilization although it seems like it to many people. We can follow the example of Moroni and put our faith in Jesus Christ. He has power to save and stands with his arms outstretched. In Christ we can find peace and hope and joy. What a blessing it is to be a missionary and share that wonderful message.