The wonder of small things

               When I arrived at the USO on Monday, Command Sergeant Major Copland was there having a free breakfast. I took the opportunity to talk to him about our class and the correlation between the soldiers improved GT scores and their homework.  The soldiers who are not engaged in class either show no improvement on the predictor or fail to even take the exam. He was totally supportive of having the sergeants screen their soldiers with a contract of commitment to focus and make changes to meet their career goals. There are so few slots for the two remaining classes that we’re hoping to give those soldiers seeking to move forward an opportunity. He was back on Wednesday to help serve chili dogs to the few soldiers who were not on alert.

                We took a small box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch to each set of missionaries at our District Meeting, with the coupon I paid sixty cents a box. When Wayne pulled them out of his backpack at the end of the meeting, Elder Taylor was so excited that Wayne was very pleased that such a small thing could bring so much happiness. Later, the sisters heard a crunching noise in the missionary closet and opened the door. Elder Taylor was folded inside. His reaction was, “Can’t you have any privacy around here.”  His companion was passing off language milestones for sister missionaries. My guess is the box was empty by the time Elder Stuart finished the interview.

Monday night at our family home evening, Eric Anderson said that his brigade was going on alert at 4 a.m. and it would last for 72 hours. By Thursday, with the popping of the small arms target practice up against the mountain, two texts to the sisters to be sure to answer their phone whenever the office calls and the empty USO, it was hard not to feel vulnerable and uneasy about the possibility of conflict. It’s still business as usual for the people of South Korea.

On Friday we met with Gabriel. He studied for a little while, but mostly he just needed someone that wasn’t in a uniform to listen to him. He comes to church just as the meeting ends to visit.

A Korean grandfather has come to the USO to volunteer a few times.  He learned that I taught English to Korean soldiers and wanted me to teach his granddaughter. I did my best to explain about the English class at our building in Jihang the sister missionaries teach and gave him a flyer. He said he would come to the class on Saturday and asked if I would be there. Another woman brought her two children so we had five Koreans plus one soldier who has been helping. Sister Hale taught the two kindergarten children. I taught the older girl vocabulary by playing a matching game. The mother studied advanced English and the grandfather worked on Basic English. We all had fun while we were learning.

Small miracles happen when we least expect them. We’ve learned to trust the Lord’s hand as He guides us each day. We have no idea the impact of the ripples of our small acts into the future, but we trust that the Lord is able to do His work. We are only his hands. What a blessing it is to wake up each morning and know that we have one more day to be a missionary!