Angel's Errand

                We had such a wonderful week full of so many opportunities to witness the love of our Heavenly Father for his individual children that I will try to give you the Cliff Notes without leaving out the richness of the plot.

On Monday, Wayne found his next off-road vehicle. He thought he could go most anywhere in this big boy! There was a barbecue at the USO for the soldiers to celebrate Memorial Day with hamburgers, hotdogs, coleslaw, baked beans, chips, and cheesecake. It was a treat. We saw lots of soldiers and the elders came to help clean the grills and meet the director of the CAC where they are volunteering as teachers of a Korean language class for the soldiers.

 Young Austin Crocket came to our Family Home Evening for the first time and he added a sweet addition to the group. He joined the military out of high school instead of serving a mission and he is working hard to build a testimony and be a strong member. He had lots of stories to share.

On Tuesday as we walked home past our wetland our great blue heron was back on his fishing rock; there was a snowy egret with black legs and bill and the bright blue swallow. We saw our first group of ducklings swimming in the small stream, and the water lilies have started to bloom.  We love those few minutes with nature each day.

Then we passed the parade grounds that are usually used as a golf course and took pictures of the soldiers in formation pending the change of command ceremony that was about to begin. The soldiers are supposed to “fall out” before they pass out, but that doesn’t always happen. They had an ambulance there just in case.

                On Thursday, I spent most of the morning marking scriptures about Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon I hope to share with Shin before I go. In the meantime, it is a good review of the roles, attributes, and love of Jesus Christ as witnessed in the Book of Mormon.

We had lunch with some of the Korean members who meet with our branch. The restaurant was a lovely building in Dongducheon and the meal was interesting. There was a mixture of rice and a pot of boiled duck and another of boiled chicken. There were also the various kimchi dishes, too and an acorn pancake.

On Friday, I felt too tired to go with Wayne to the USO but I needed the walk for exercise plus I promised Elder Shepherd’s mother I would bake him a cake for his birthday. As I was wondering when we might be free to go, a captain came in looking for information on a DMZ tour. He and the other soldier with him were new to Korea. They kind of hung around the desk asking questions. There was enough in his conversation to hint that he knew a lot about our church. Finally, I asked him what experience he had had with our church. He confessed that he was a return missionary. He served in Denmark. He said he couldn’t remember the last time he attended church on his own. He had already pulled out of me where and when we held church services on post. I invited him to sign up for a free USO tour sponsored by the Camp Casey USO at the end of the month. He and his buddy both signed up. I didn’t tell him that we would be going, too, or that I planned to invite all the LDS soldiers. I felt like I had been an answer to the prayers of a mother and father today and they may never know that Heavenly Father reached out to their precious son today and invited him back.

Teel-Owen wanted to begin studying with us near 5 p.m. so I started working on word recall and reading comprehension with her. I was just finishing and Wayne started to work with her on math when Sam and Shin arrived for English tutoring. We went through Shin’s writing first. I try to have two positive things to say about their writing for every correction. Sam’s writing was a cover letter he is writing seeking an internship at a hospital. We spent more time talking about the content of the cover letter and how he might formulate it to help highlight his strengths than on the actual grammar. I had a delightful time with them. Broady stopped by asking for homework. His buddies wanted him to go with them rather than studying so we made an appointment and he took the homework. It was a wonderful evening with students but it draws deep on adrenaline.

               

On Saturday we were in the Seoul Korea Temple with four of our soldiers. As I pondered today, I tried to think of all the things I do know and understand to offset the many parts of the plan that I don’t understand and need to accept on faith. Maybe if I can strengthen my testimony of the things I know it will help me strengthen my faith and trust in Jesus Christ that the end can/will be a “fullness of joy.” Pres. Hinckley phrased that as, “In the end it will all work out.” We found this delightful dragon as we wandered the back streets of Seoul between the train station and the temple.

This morning I watched two hawks with their two fledgling hawks on the ledge of the building near our own. They young birds were teetering on the ledge with their wings open a little to steady their steps. First one adult and then the other left the ledge, spread wide their wings and glided to our building. We watched the two young birds gather courage to follow. I thought about my own fears. I would fear most the landing. I would be afraid to stop too soon or too late; fall or crash. One of the two left the ledge and beat its wings rapidly as it flew toward the building. The second soon followed with less wing movement and more gliding. Later, we saw one fledgling on the ledge of the building across from us and then the second one. One of the adults had taken a perch on the top of the building opposite us and the other was on our building. The two young birds had their first experience with flight this morning. It was a blessing to witness the wonder of nature.

Precious, a refugee from Liberia, came today, the second time this year. She came after the meeting began so I went quickly to the rear of the chapel at the end of the meeting to greet her before she left to go home. She just held me. She needed the strong arms of an old woman and the feeling of love inside them. Rachel, a refugee from Uganda, came alone and brought her two young boys. She took her boys to the Koreans Primary and asked me if we were having Relief Society. I hadn’t prepared a Relief Society lesson but I told her we would meet; Precious came with us. We found ourselves a room, opened a window so it wouldn’t be too hot and I prayed for us. We opened the manual and decided to review the lesson on faith together. While I took the lead, it was amazing to listen to these two pioneer women share their faith, ask questions of one another to know how to be strong with the unique challenges they face. “…Be not afraid, only believe.” (Mark 5:36) This statement was made to Jarius who had come asking Jesus to heal his ill daughter just as a servant delivered the news that his daughter was already dead. Rachel shared an experience she had this past week with faith and answered prayer. What a blessing to be among these two daughters of God and be strengthened by their faith.

Afterwards, the two sets of missionaries and Victoria came over to eat cake and ice cream. They did lots of giggling. We did some translating for Victoria, but she was good just to enjoy the wonderful spirit and love we share together. She said that Americans do lots of talking when they eat but Koreans eat in silence. The Koreans miss wonderful bonding opportunities with that tradition.