Big Guns

                As we headed to the Education Center on Wednesday to teach we were greeted by these big guns on either side of the roadway. It looked like a grand greeting until we noticed these other big guns parked across every road that led to our destination. We wondered if someone knew something they didn’t tell us so we talked to a soldier near one of the guns. He said there would be a change of command ceremony later in the day and we were free to pass the guns and teach our class. Sometimes we feel as though there are really big guns trying to keep us from our goal of serving the soldiers and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are thankful that the Lord always provides a way to do whatever He asks of us.

                  We taught every morning this week to a full room of soldiers. Wayne has them moving quickly and confidently through the basic math, algebra, and geometry. He started giving them word problems and testing their ability to use the tools he has given them. I have become a little more brave and have been able to keep them focused on finding the main idea in the passage they are reading or verifying the answer they chose is based on the words they read. They are becoming very accurate and quick with their vocabulary tests and the errors are coming down in their comprehension.

                We met with our soldiers on Monday night in a very leaky building for Family Home Evening. We thought the rain that had the rivers swollen to near capacity might deter our soldiers. We had a full house with soldiers and missionaries so excited to be together that Elder Anderson had to push them out the door. I love the laughter of children. These children are a wee bit bigger than the Primary children in Utah, but just as precious to Heavenly Father.

               We met with soldiers for one-on-one tutoring at the USO three evenings and with our district of missionaries twice. The second time they came to our apartment to wish Elder Anderson a happy birthday. They brought him a sack of fresh peaches. The big celebration for the birthday came on Sunday after our church meetings.

The Koreans hosted the soldiers for a barbecue in the mountains about twenty miles north. We had six soldiers join the group and they had an incredible time as they enjoyed the beautiful countryside of Korea and the wonderful hospitality and food of the Korean members. It was a rare opportunity for those who were able to get permission to come.

We had a record sixteen soldiers at church today and five Africans. One of our new soldiers is an LDS chaplain, Captain Omer (dishing up food with Wayne and Eric Anderson), so we are looking forward to working with him. He will have resources and opportunities to serve the LDS soldiers to complement our work. 

             There were five nonmembers who joined us in our sacrament services and news that we will no longer have two sets of younger missionaries in our area. The number of missionaries leaving far exceeds the number arriving so several areas with elders were merged with other areas. Our sisters will stay and do their best to keep teaching and fellowshipping. We will roll with the new changes and trust that this is the Lord’s work. We are just his helpers. What a wonderful time to be missionaries in Dongducheon.