Transitions

                The first transition was the news that there will not be elders in our area for a while. Elder Shepherd went home to Georgia and his companion was transferred. Several of our soldiers were in the field training with their tanks this week so we had a pretty quiet Family Home Evening.

Elder Shepherd, Elder Gish, Sister Rhodes, Sister Hale, Elder and Sister Anderson

                The second transition was completing our three weeks teaching this group of soldiers their math, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. They represent a wide variety of skill levels, but most of them came determined to learn. One soldier who is hoping to qualify for an elite female criminal investigation unit said to her seatmate, “I’ve never felt so prepared to take this exam.” Her score is only one point away from the number she needs to move forward with her dream.

   We have spent several evenings at the USO doing extra tutoring. They will take an exam to “predict” their score if they were to take the actual exam now. We have high hopes that many of them will actually take the promotion exam and do well on it. Three weeks has given us more time to cover additional materials and give the soldiers a wider range of practice questions.

Sister Rhodes eating a dream dessert.

                Our pay for teaching the class came from the Russian part-time employee who helps in the office at the education center. She made us our own dish of a secret family recipe for a dessert. All I can tell you is it is difficult to make, there is chocolate on top in gelatin and that the bottom is light, not too sweet, and similar to cream cheese, but it’s not cream cheese. She wouldn’t share the ingredients or the recipe, only the dessert. She has been very, very kind to us. We invited the sister missionaries to enjoy our treat with us. Since they are the only set of missionaries here, they have been doing double-duty this week and working very hard.

Pres. Brent Soelberg and Bro. Bae, Korean Group Leader

                The third transition was a change in the leadership in our Korean Northern Military Branch. Pres. Soelberg is returning to his family in the U.S. this week. The district presidency came for our ward conference and sustained Chaplain Omer as our new branch president. The Lord’s hand in this work was clear. Until two weeks ago there was no one here to fill the position of branch president. Chaplain Omer arrived humble but prepared to assist in building the Lord’s kingdom in our little corner of South Korea.

Pres. Loren Omer, Pres. Craig Sonksen, Pres. Lee, of the District Presidency

Pres. and Sister Sonksen came, too, so they could look at the apartment where the elders had been living to decide what to do with it. His biggest concern was prevention of the growth of mold while it is vacant. I thought that eradicating the roaches the elders were feeding needed to be near the top of the priorities, too. We have all the food out of the apartment so the hope is that without a food supply the population will die. We did add some roach hotels we hope they visit as a last resort. (It’s okay if you’re not laughing.)

We have lots of varied opportunities and experiences every week, even if the variety is simply in the people in our path. It’s exciting being “…called of God to declare His word among His people.”  (3 Nephi 5:13)This is the Lord’s work but he finds ways to use us. How thankful we are for His trust and for all those who take care of things in Utah and watch over our families so we have this opportunity.