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.