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.