Teaching and Tutoring

    

            Teaching and tutoring really sums up our week. This is most of the 27 soldiers we worked with. Some were so determined to do well on their exams next week that they asked for extra tutoring sessions in the afternoons and Saturday. They have dreams and goals they hope to achieve and a high score on their exam is one piece.

                We did take time in the evenings to get a little exercise and enjoy the cool breeze that cleans the air and keeps the temperature delightful. As the cherry blossoms fade, there are other blossoms emerging to keep the country colorful.

We noted that they are constructing a retention dam in our little stream to create a small pond and a wetland area. Note the huge blocks of granite they are placing one at a time and four deep at the base of the dam. Korea is granite so they use the stone to build.

My darling grandmother’s in the park were excited to pose for a photo. They brighten my day with their smiles, plus they share their snacks. Yesterday it was rice sticks.

               

                As you can see, our numbers were few today. This is the little group after our block meetings. Wayne and I are still teaching Chika, from Nigeria, the Temple Preparation lessons. Only the four soldiers and Chika are part of our branch. We did have three more soldiers who came to the afternoon sacrament meeting at the chapel on Camp Casey one had a tale of his own tender mercy this week. He flies a drone along the border for intelligence purposes. This week as it was flying he was prompted to check on its flight while the other soldiers were playing video games, confident all was as usual and well. He noted that the drone had dropped in altitude and quickly discovered its engine was failing. It was too far afield to bring it home before the engine stopped but he was able to successfully crash it into a mountainside away from people where they were able to retrieve the full payload unharmed. The shell of the drone is a total loss but easily replaced. He had followed all the prescribed procedures and had no negative repercussions because he had noted the engine problem quickly.

             As I pulled up to the gate to go to our Sunday meeting, the gate guard told me that my car registration had expired so I would need to park off post and walk onto the post. While that didn’t seem like a tender mercy, it was a huge one. Today I could walk a couple of blocks from the parking outside the gate to the chapel. Last week the distance from my house to our classroom was a twenty minute car ride. We have time this week to deal with the paperwork complete with a Korean holiday on Monday closing everything. We can walk the twenty minutes to the USO and administrative buildings. The Lord really does watch over us.