Faith, sacrifice, and consecration

In July, all the missionaries in South Korea united their faith in a fasted for rain. There had been a drought in the country for three years.  The next couple of weeks we had the annual monsoon rains that occur every June.  We have had abundant rain every week in July and August and more in the forecast.

The stream with the little specks (ducklings) is usually a trickle with barely enough water to sustain the little fish the herons and egrets eat. The ducks have been very joyful with the rain.

This waterfall is coming over a dam that holds back the drinking water for the military post. Usually no water flows over the wall and plants grow on either side of the fish ladder. We took these pictures on our walk home from the USO on the bridge that crosses the wetland.

I heard loud claps of thunder and heavy rain just about the time the sister missionaries were scheduled to return to their apartment on Friday night. I called them to see if they needed rescuing but they said they were already at the apartment complex and then came to our apartment to bring me some fresh grapes. They were both dripping wet. Each had given her umbrella to a Korean woman on the bus who needed it. “It’s what Christ would have done,” Sister Rhodes said.

The yearly August training exercises began this week and the USO had a variety of visiting military personnel who have arrived to train over the next few weeks. We were visited by the new post commander, Col. Jacobs and CSM Copeland on Tuesday. Col. Jacobs has been in South Korea less than a week, but he came to the USO anticipating we would be there to give us an “Outstanding Volunteer” pin and to thank us for our service to the soldiers under his command. It was nice not to need to find him and try to convince him we were an asset to his post.

We also saw several soldiers who were students and had a chance to reconnect with them. One, from the DMZ, was very pleased that we remembered him, another was hoping for more study materials to do a bit more cramming before taking the promotion exam. One soldier confided in me that he was being trained to kill people and he really didn’t want to be put in a position where he had to take the life of someone else. I wouldn’t want his job either.

We took a two-hour train ride across the Han River to a district conference broadcast from Salt Lake City to all the stakes in South Korea. Elder Bednar was the anchor speaker. This is the second time he has spoken to the people of South Korea in less than a year. He pulled out the cat-of-nine-tails and very specifically outlined where they can do better. It is a call to repentance that could apply to almost any stake in the church. I took it as a personal call to repent. He admonished us to begin with faith, apply sacrifice in our service, and move towards consecration of our will to the Lord’s will. He reminded us that it is the Lord who is hastening His work. We are either part of that team or not. One of the speakers used the exact quote from Pres. Hinckley at the dedication of the Seoul Temple that Koreans hold as a protection against conflict with their neighbor and pointed out the kingpin of consecrated service to secure those blessings. Those who claim, “All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth” (2 Ne 28:21) were called out.

I will try to have the faith of Chika who just lost his job for the second time in about six weeks. He trusts the Lord knows where he needs to be working and will guide him to find new employment. He has so little control over his circumstances and so much faith in the Lord. His faithfulness is an example to me. We’re thankful for a few more months to be servants of the Lord in this corner of his vineyard where there is opportunity to strengthen ourselves as we seek to provide support to others.