Participants in History

                Family Home Evening studying the Doctrine and Covenants is a wonderful way to begin our week. You can see Wayne, our sister missionaries (Sister Hale and Sister Frint), Bro. Kamarath, our new elder (Elder Yu), Ellis and Elder Shepherd.

                We met twice with Victoria this week. On Tuesday the elders tried to make certain she understood all the commandments she would be covenanting to keep when she entered the waters of baptism and we took time to address concerns she had as well. She joked that she had joined lots of churches before and it was always very easy, but this church was hard.

As we moved toward her baptism interview on Thursday, she was worried that she may not pass. After Elder Anderson (assisted by Elder Barney as translator) finished the interview and told her that she was ready for baptism Victoria wanted to celebrate passing her baptism interview. She took seven missionaries to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner.

                We recognized the rice and enjoyed a soup with bean sprouts, but the only other food we recognized were these tiny crabs. The elders said you were supposed to crack them open and suck out the meat. Wayne was brave and tried. He said he didn’t detect any meat, only what tasted like crab waste and sand. I noticed that none of the elders ate two.

It was a one-person business. Our hostess was also the cook, waitress, busboy, and diswasher. She was very friendly and told Victoria that she doesn’t go to church now because many people come to eat at her restaurant on Sunday. There was a group of three men who came to eat while we were there and almost every chair was filled.

                The whole week was focused on the baptism of Victoria on Saturday evening. As soon as we arrived at the chapel in Uijeonbu, the Korean sisters surrounded her, trying to make certain everything was perfect.  This was Elder Shepherd’s first opportunity to baptize and he was very, very happy. I think Victoria was disappointed that neither her daughter or son came. Often she expressed the wish that she had found this gospel while her children were still young so that she could have taught them about it in their youth.

                She shared her testimony by dividing her life into four parts: her childhood that was hard because her mother died when she was one and she was raised by two different step-mothers; her married life as a wife and mother which began when she was twenty and ended when her husband was killed suddenly in a car accident at age 34; her professional life which came as she completed university studies and worked as director in a counseling office in Seoul; and her time as a member of Christ’s true church that was beginning today on her 60^th birthday.

                There were almost forty people who came to celebrate representing her new gospel family. Among the group were these two young women who called Victoria their teacher. They were happy women who requested copies of The Book of Mormon from the missionaries before they left. They do not live in our area so it will be other missionaries who have the opportunity to meet with them as they begin their journey to know for themselves whether The Book of Mormon is the word of God, truly another testament of Jesus Christ, and whether Jesus Christ truly restored His priesthood authority and keys to Joseph Smith establishing His kingdom for the last time in our dispensation.

                The journey continued on Sunday when Elder Anderson (with Ricky Kong as interpreter) confirmed Victoria a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with the invitation to receive the Holy Ghost as her constant companion. He gave her a sweet blessing to be filled with the Holy Ghost and the gift of charity as she keeps the commandments and serves those around her.

                Also in the meeting was a member of the bishopric from the Uijeonbu Ward. He had come to welcome Victoria, but also to officially organize the Dongducheon Group with a group leader with authorization to meet and administer the sacrament in this area of South Korea. Sunday will be a historical marker of the expansion of the gospel here. The Korean sister who gave her very first sacrament meeting talk today has been able to attend sacrament meeting because of the organization of this group. Since they began to meet with us in January, she has only missed attending once. She still travels a long way to bring her son to church. She also taught the Relief Society lesson and was at the baptism on Saturday night. There were more than twice as many Koreans in our meeting today than Americans and Africans combined.

                Rachel and her two sons came to sacrament meeting on Sunday for the first time in many weeks. Her husband was not with her to help her wrestle the two active boys so Sister Hale volunteered to help me teach the boys in a Primary class during the second hour. This freed Rachel to enjoy an hour of church without distractions and gave us an opportunity to provide the boys with gospel teaching through activities, stories, and song. They are darling boys, Eli and Evan, with a full measure of energy. We are hoping having Primary available for the children will encourage this family to return to regular church attendance.

                I invited all of the Relief Society sisters, Korean, African, and sister missionaries to my home to watch the General Women’s Conference together. My invitation was accepted by the sister missionaries and two of the three African sisters. The spirit in the General Women’s Conference and the music were wonderful. Even though both sisters insisted they needed to leave directly afterwards, both stayed to eat and visit. They needed the fellowship as much as the instruction. We will continue to pray that these sweet sisters will return to full activity.

Unexpected Honor

                We made some adjustments to our schedule to be at the Garrison Commander’s staff meeting on Wednesday. Also present were the Camp Commanders for each of the army units near the demilitarized zone.  Someone told Col. Newton that we were teaching his soldiers and he wanted to show his appreciation. 

                These Commander’s Coins are an important Army tradition; we just didn’t expect to be presented with one. Later, this week we learned that we are the only teachers for the BSEP review class in Area 1; the other teacher resigned; so we will teach as much as we can from now until we return home.  The education office told us they expect the next class to fill within a few minutes of it being announced because of the large backlog of soldiers needing it.

                We caught a bus to Camp Red Cloud where the garrison headquarters are located. As we walked around the post, all the soldiers were wearing their full battle armor including their helmet and bullet-proof vests. Wayne and I felt a little vulnerable in our light jackets. There are multiple military exercises happening along the DMZ with lots of military personnel here from around the world simulating war scenarios. We know it is training, but it looks pretty real. We worked at the USO at Camp Casey almost every day serving the military here so the USO staff were free to set up a mini-USO at the firing range for the military there to enjoy.

                This was a transfer week for our missionaries. Only Elder Shepherd stayed, but two sister missionaries were sent to us. We’re all so excited to have these sisters who have hit the ground running. There charge is to find the Koreans in this area who stopped attending when the meetings were shifted thirty minutes south to Uijeonbu and invite them back. We’ll do all we can to help them.

              This is a picture of Elder Sanguinsine, Elder Shepherd, Victoria, Genan, and Elder Beesinger at the last missionary lesson this set of elders had with her. Victoria is preparing for her baptism to be on her 60th birthday, March 25th. This is a special birthday in Korea and being baptized is how Victoria wanted to celebrate. Our Korean sisters are planning the celebration after the baptism.

Kidnapped by a Harmony

            The most exciting event of the week occurred on March 7^th when our first great-grandson, Henry David Bogle, was born. 

            The most unusual occurred on Sunday when an old, Korean pulled me into her apartment so she could feed me. Her daughter was surprised as she poked her head out of the bathroom where she had probably just taken a shower to find her mother had brought home an American. In English, she asked me if I spoke Korean, I told her very little. She explained that her mother had Alzheimer’s. I did my best to exit gracefully and escape to my own apartment.

In Korea, all older women are called, harmony, which means grandmother. I always stop and bow to them when I encounter them on the streets. They smile and often giggle. This harmony was near our doorway when we came home from our church meeting so I stopped to greet her. She immediately began to tell me a tale in Korean. It didn’t seem to matter that my only responses were nonverbal. I didn’t dare say, “Nay,” which means yes because I didn’t understand any of her Korean. I’m told that harmonies have their own language that only they and their own children understand. The only word I picked up was the word for food so I thought she wanted to come to my apartment to eat. More appropriate to her culture was for her to want to feed me so she took me to her apartment.

The elders taught my neighbor, Victoria, two lessons on Friday this week and then I taught her the English lesson. She has agreed that we will continue the language study together after she is baptized. I will teacher her English and she will help me with my Korean. We want to be able to talk to one another without the elders to translate. In the picture are a Korean couple who meet with us on Sunday. They bring Victoria home each week so they can visit with her.

Wayne and I spent extra time at the USO this week because the grandmother of one of the two paid employees died and Korean funerals last a week. There were soldiers in from all over Asia for the war simulation exercises happening here and Suk Harper, who directs the USO, was setting up an extension of our USO at the gunnery range where the exercises are happening. Someone needed to hold the fort. With the weather a bit warmer, we walked to Camp Casey this week and then explored the local hardware stores on the way home. They are a full Home Depot in a MUCH smaller space!

We went to our district meeting in Uijeonbu on Wednesday after our language training. It’s amazing how much joy one fruit rollup can bring to an American missionary. This group of missionaries will be split on Wednesday with the new set of transfers. We’re pretty excited because we’re promised a set of sisters here in Dongducheon. We checked out their apartment and will add food back into it before they arrive. I’m forcing Wayne to share some of his kimchi and curry because every Korean missionary apartment needs kimchi and rice.

Joy in Missionary Service

                We started to settle back into our regular routine of missionary work after some pretty exciting adventures. We have a solid group of soldiers who gather for FHE each Monday evening. They held the fort together while we were away and were happy to learn more about how being united in their faith in Jesus Christ can bind their families together even when they seem worlds apart.

                Our mentors at the USO were happy to have some day help to free them up to do fundraising and arrange activities in the satellite field posts. On Tuesday, I left Wayne at the USO desk to run some errands we had planned to do together after our shift. We felt crunched for time so I went alone. As I started out of the commissary, I recognized Sister Dale who had come with her husband to church the first week in January and we haven’t seen or heard from them since. I greeted her and she stopped to visit for a while. I knew the timing of this temporal errand had been prompted by the Lord.

My next errand was to the Post Exchange and there, at almost 2 pm, was the Sanchik family eating lunch together. I’ve been doing my best to follow on their well-being since Sister Sanchik had a baby boy five weeks early on Thursday. I knew the baby had some concerns early and the delivery was C-section. I was able to talk with Brenda, see pictures of the newborn, and learn of his continued progress. They were happy to know of our love and prayers on their behalf. The Lord is able to do His own work, and sometimes he uses senior missionaries.

The elders and I met twice with my neighbor, Victoria. She shared her story with us and a very personal, sacred experience after the death of her husband. She was only thirty-four. She chronicled her search for truth and her first encounter with The Book of Mormon. She was reluctant to read it but unable to find answers to her questions elsewhere. As she read a little at a time, she began to be drawn to the book until she came to know that it was the word of God, the answer to her searching. She has read and marked it and prayed. She has read the Gospel Essentials Manual, Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. Her top question is, “What do I need to do to be baptized.” The elders have started presenting the five lessons and she has a baptism goal date. She even fasted today.

Assisting in the teaching of Victoria with her limited English has required me to call down the gift of tongues and the elders to help translate. I have used my Korean in ways I didn’t think I knew how. I even bore a simple testimony in Korean today in our fast and testimony meeting. It wasn’t perfect, but the faces of the Koreans was like seeing a host of cheerleaders celebrating an impending win.

We held a fast and testimony meeting on post for one soldier this afternoon, but the rest of us who were there were the beneficiaries of the wonderful spirit that fills those tiny meetings. Tender feelings of the heart are easily shared in the company of those who understand and appreciate deep spiritual experiences. I don’t think they charge enough for the joy and blessings associated with being an emissary for Jesus Christ.

Wayne and I were able to take the train to Seoul to attend the temple on Saturday. I learned the answer to a question I have puzzled over for years as I sat through the instruction. The instruction was still the same, but my eyes were opened to see what I hadn’t seen before. It was so plain that I was amazed that it had eluded me for so long. The temple truly is a house of learning, a house of prayer, a house of worship. We were able to teach the Temple Preparation class to four members of our branch today. It is wonderful to see so many of them eager to take this next step in their conversion. Three of them look forward to being sealed to their spouse and family.

The exciting news this week was the mission call to Charlotte, NC, to our granddaughter, Kara Atkisson. We trace my Taylor ancestors to North Carolina so in a way she is being called to share the gospel in a place where she has roots. Some of the people she encounters may well be cousins. We know she will grow as she experiences the joy of being God’s missionary.