One of a kind

               

                The big adventure of our week was a visit to Camp Humphreys near Pyeongtaek close to the western coast about ninety minutes south of Seoul. We were there to meet with Lt. Col. Thomas Helms who is the deputy to the chaplain of the 8^th Army. Col. Helms is a chaplain and called all the Military Relations Missionaries in South Korea to his home for lunch and a conversation. At the meeting we realized that our mission area is very unique, one of a kind. Nothing the other missionaries shared fit our scenario of unaccompanied soldiers with varying lengths of deployment. One challenge we asked him to take to church headquarters was the option for our branch president to designate a rotating group leader to have authority to administer the sacrament to LDS soldiers during extended field operations. Our soldiers are often in the field for three to five weeks at a time. Sometimes they are joined by other units who have LDS members among them. Currently, there is no way for them to enjoy the blessings of the sacrament at these training outposts.

                Our soldiers are frequently rotated in and out of South Korea and always come without their families. All of the other posts have families with the soldiers and they serve here for two years at a time providing some continuity. We hold our meetings with Koreans and Africans and in two languages. Our branch has sacrament meeting in two different buildings every week to accommodate soldiers restricted to post. We have one set of sister missionaries that work with us and with the Korean group here. Every week, and sometimes every day, something new is happening in Area 1. We love the variety and opportunity our mission provides.

                As soon as we crossed the Han River and emerged from the southern suburbs of Seoul we encountered the rice fields that feed this country. The monsoon rains have flushed the fields and the rice will soon be ready for harvesting. Our good friend, Sister Rix, is now living near Camp Humphreys where her husband is working so she picked us up after our three-hour bus ride and gave us a brief tour of the post and the area immediately around it. Only about 15% of the land in South Korea is arable because of the many mountains and rivers. This area is flat and without mountains so they turn the swamps into rice fields.

                The second big highlight of our week was the results of the scores of our students on their predictor test and for some the actual promotion exam. We had one soldier raise her score almost 25 points from a number under 110 to just under 130 which is the cut score for becoming an officer. Others raised their scores by equally large increments. The soldiers who did not do homework, who slept, played on their phones, or just talked in class showed little change in their scores. Because of the number of students who scored above 100, the education office will schedule our next class for three weeks again. There is evidence to convince commanders that the extra week makes a difference in the success of their soldiers.

                Gabriel Broady who has been spending two or three evenings with us every week for several months also took the predictor test this week and scored 109. He is so close to that cut score that he can taste it! His plan is to take the actual exam at the end of August and he should be armed with the skills to reach a hard worked for goal.

                We continue to have nonmembers regularly at our meetings. This sister prayed that she would be able to have children and she asked for two. Only a few weeks later she learned she was pregnant with twins. Now she has two of a kind. These boys love their Primary class, especially singing the songs in Korean and English. They are very reverent in our sacrament meeting enabling their mother to listen to the messages. Our favorite chaplain’s assistant, Ann-Marie, sat with the sister missionaries the full hour at our meeting on post, a first for her.

I was the anchor speaker today with the topic of the sacrament. There are so many things to remember about Jesus Christ from his premortal role in volunteering to come as our Messiah, to his creation of our world, his role as the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament with his hands stretched out to invite us to come unto Him; his birth, atonement, resurrection and appearances to Joseph Smith as His gospel was restored to the earth in preparation for His promised coming as King of Kings. We can reflect on our need for forgiveness and focus our loving obedience as we seek to become like Him. We can think about taking His name upon us that we might enjoy the fruits of having his Spirit to always be with us—love, joy, and peace. The sacrament is such a sacred covenant and gift that we are invited to partake weekly to enjoy a sacred moment in a quiet place. We love being missionaries and wearing His name on our heart every day.