Thanksgiving Celebration

                We only met with soldiers three days this week because of Thanksgiving. We did our best to work them hard and encourage them to study during their break. Our Russian receptionist at the Education Center cooked Cajun-Korean chicken and SPICED vegetables on Wednesday. Then we moved on to the USO to a more traditional Thanksgiving meal. There were extra turkey bones and stock so we came home with the base for turkey soup.

                On Thursday we had a big crowd at the soldier’s dining hall for an American Thanksgiving meal. Our fellow senior missionaries, the Robinsons, came up from Seoul because there is no Thanksgiving this week there and they missed Thanksgiving last year. They will be on our flight home with us. Our sister missionaries invited all the soldiers who have been attending their Korean language class and four of them joined us for the meal. Only one of our student soldiers was there and she was scheduled for three Thanksgiving meals. Our district leader brought his greenie companion up from Uijeonbu and they ate like they hadn’t seen food since they left their mother’s kitchen.

                As we ate, a soldier who said he had just come from praying that he could find the church recognized our name tags and was so excited to have such a quick answer to his prayer. He was in church on Sunday in time to partake of the sacred sacrament.

                Two mobile missile launchers stopped by so a celebrity they were escorting could shake hands with the soldiers. 

             After we stuffed ourselves with American food we seldom see in Korea, we went to the chapel annex where we have Family Home Evening.  A few of the soldiers who wanted to escape their barracks and be with others on a family day joined us. Sister Bowman brought a music video to remind us we were celebrating Thanksgiving and game that was similar to Apples to Apples. After the video we played the game around a large table for about an hour with lots of giggling and fun.

               Friday was chilly but sunny so we decided to finish our Christmas shopping in Seoul. The market is at the East Gate of the old city wall of Seoul. We have ridden past it often but we took time to take pictures and walk along the remnants of the ancient wall. We even stopped to order a custom suit for Wayne on our way home.

              Saturday is the day we get ready for Sunday. The Korean sisters trusted us not only to bring sugary, American cake, but also the carrots and cucumbers for the Bibimbop.   

Sunday was a Korean language day so all the talks were spoken in Korean and translated into English. Wayne and I did our best to understand the Korean before we heard the ideas in English. Our African sister was here with her boys hoping we were having Relief Society. We found a little room we could heat with a space heater and she agreed to choose the lesson and lead the discussion. Her topic was testimony. She holds fast to her testimony through economic trials and isolation from extended family and her own culture.

               The Korean sisters laid out the table for the Bibimbop. Everything has its precise place on the table. Notice how we use our hands to communicate. The great thing about Bibimbop is that you build it yourself with rice and lots of vegetables, a little meat and a soft fried egg. You also have control over the amount of red sauce you add for flavor. Wayne was accused of not adding enough for him to even taste. After eating the leftovers are shared so everyone goes home with ingredients for a full meal.

Loving Father

                We address our Heavenly Father with the same word we give our earthly father. It reminds us of his intimate concern for our welfare and his never changing love. One of our words this week was gravity—which means being drawn towards. While the gravitational force of the earth draws us to its surface, there is a similar force from our Heavenly Father that draws us to him with an unexplainable desire to be close to him, to return to him.            

                We started teaching one more class of soldiers this week and there on the center aisle was a soldier with a name tag we have been keeping our eye out for since September. His unit rotated to Camp Casey in July and his mother asked another soldier who is also in South Korea but far away from here if he could find him. That soldier is on the Military District Council with Wayne and asked if he would watch for him. Sure enough, he bleeds pure blue, a faithful BYU sports fan and LDS. He’ll look at our name tags for three weeks and be reminded of who he is and the direction of his home.   

                 I’m trying to find corners of time to do some walking so I followed a trail near the Education Center during one of my teaching breaks and came upon this little burial ground. I share a story of one of our forefathers or mothers with our grandchildren each week. I wondered about the stories of these grandparents whose resting place is so lovingly groomed. I feel a draw to my grandparents who honored their faith by their service to family, church, neighbors, and community. I am thankful to know that one day I will meet them and be welcomed into their loving arms.

                I had just started my weekly shopping when a soldier asked me when I would be going home. He had undoubtedly seen me before and knew I was here for a limited time. We were alone in a corner of the store and he took time to share with me that he had grown up in a faithful LDS family complete with graduation from early-morning seminary. When he made the choice to join the Army instead of going on a mission, he quit going to church altogether. Now he was feeling the pull to return to his faith, make some changes in his life course, and come closer to his Heavenly Father. I wasn’t in his path at that moment by chance. God is in the details of our lives always inviting us to “come unto him.”

On weeks when we are teaching our district of missionaries shift their meeting to our apartment so we are able to attend with them. I’ve noticed a pattern of the zone leaders attending our district meeting on that week. It may just be the draw of the American sweets I share when they come or it may be the fellowship we feel as we gather in a close group, sing and pray together and learn from one another. What a joy it has been to be tutored by these young people. Transfers are this week so our Korean sister will be returning home. Only senior missionaries avoid a transfer so we will undoubtedly experience more changes.

While Wayne was tutoring soldiers in math, I went for a walk in the park. I found a harmony (grandmother) picking these tiny red berries from the tree. They looked like wonderful food for the winter birds to me, but she was holding the branch low with one hand and picking the tiny berries with the other to put in her cart. I stopped and just started picking because I knew she would appreciate the help but she would also refuse it. We gleaned all the berries within our reach on the first tree and she communicated to me in her Korean that it was cold and told me 갑시다  which means, “Let’s go.” I finally put my gloves on my very cold hands and started to walk away. Then she went to the second tree and started to pick so I went back and didn’t leave her until she turned her cart toward home. She had about a gallon of the berries. I have no idea what she will do with them, but I noticed that she didn’t put any of them in her mouth so I didn’t either. I wonder if the next generation will continue the traditions of their mothers in gathering the foul smelling gingko berries, pulling out the seeds, drying them and then shelling them. Or, gathering these seeds or the acrid acorns or the greens that grow along the river in the spring. As I watched her walk away I wondered how I could feel so much love for this little woman I had just met. I think it is part of the connection to our Heavenly Father which makes us sisters.

Joyful Communities

             

             We had the opportunity to interact with a variety of happy communities this week. Our Family Home evening picture is missing MSgt. Lyse who has been with us on temporary duty for a special exercise that began on Sunday. He provides insight and experience to the young adults who meet with us. Five is a big group for us yet small enough that we love being together and sharing a love for Jesus Christ as we study his life in the New Testament. 

             My neighbors have been making kimchi and harvesting the white radishes. Some of the radishes they use to make kimchi but I noticed large sheets of them drying in pieces that look like French fries and then another set of neighbors were washing and bundling smaller radishes that they might sell. They dry the radish tops and I have no idea what they use them for.

            Notice how the cabbages are cut into quarters to be salted and soaked in brine to draw out much of their water before they put them into the red pepper paste they use to ferment them.  You can get an idea how large the red tub is that they use to mix the kimchi. Our farmer from our Jihang group at church gave us two large cabbages so we could make our own kimchi. That little community of saints that gather together has become very dear to us.             

            This is one of my favorite “harmonies” (grandmothers) with a small dish of cabbage that has been soaked in the brine and then rinsed ready to put in the hot sauce.

I think this is her daughter standing by the kimchi that is still left in the tub. She has been transferring it to the containers that will store it through the winter.

This is a full group shot of one set of neighbors who used the sidewalk in front of their house to prepare the cabbages and make the kimchi. Because kimchi has so many steps and is so much work, they almost never make it alone. It is a family project much like bottling fruit and making fruit preserves that I did with my family in the fall.

I spent most of my week reorganizing my materials so Sister Bowman can begin to teach some of the reading comprehension lessons next week. Wayne was faithful in watching the desk at the USO. We both met evenings with soldiers still preparing to take their promotion exams. One of them took his exam this week and scored 114 which will help him achieve his dreams. He was our soldier from Cameroon.

Our weekend adventure took us to Seoul for a Zone Conference with the community of young missionaries. This will be our last Zone Conference before we return home so we were asked to give, 마지막, or final testimony. My heart started up in my throat and my eyes seemed more like waterfalls when I stood, but then I calmed and was able to speak and share my love for our Savior Jesus Christ and my joy in having this opportunity to be on His errand for a few months. Wayne shared similar sentiments but without the water display. We took lots of pictures, gave lots of hugs, and made promises to keep in touch with missionaries we have served with who are in other areas of the zone and will continue their service for a few more months. They all got smart phones this week so they learned how to be smart with those phones and use them for missionary purposes (and not selfies).

President and Sister Sonksen hosted a dinner for all the senior missionaries in the Seoul South Korea Mission so we could be together one last time as a community of seniors before we return. Sister Robinson, with her hand on my shoulder, and her husband will return with us on December 6^th. They have done a wonderful work as public relations missionaries and live in St. George. There were three couples who are relatively new, the Bowmans, the Ulvestads, and the Whitings, so we were able to become better acquainted with them. The office couple, also named Anderson, will complete their mission only a few months after we return. Our get acquainted activity was to share one thing we had learned about our spouse while we have served with them as a missionary. These seniors who serve as missionaries and then do it again and again are pretty amazing.           

               We stayed the night at the mission home and then struck out for an adventure in shopping on Saturday morning. We got on the bus that doesn’t go all the way to Seoul Station which is a mistake we have done before. It gave us a chance to do a short river walk in the middle of the city where they already have lots of fun displays set up in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics. These are the mascots for the games doing a little advertising.

                At Seoul Station there is an overhead walkway that crosses this busy street and ends up in a market famous for its bargains. We hadn’t visited it yet so we decided to explore and see if we could find something small enough to fit inside our suitcases to bring home to our family for Christmas. There were so many little shops in a labyrinth of streets that it was pretty overwhelming. I managed to spend every won in Wayne’s wallet in a short period of time. It was a fun adventure in the big city but we were happy to return to our little dong.

Outpouring of the Spirit

               

This was supposed to be a recovery week. It seemed more like a circus. At least I felt like I was in a three ring circus, twisting, turning, and tumbling around. Before my feet touched the ground it was Saturday and we were riding on a train to Seoul to attend the temple. It is never easy to be up and on an early train, but there is so much peace and joy inside the temple that I am never tempted to make an excuse not to go. This visit did not disappoint. We were confronted with an important decision with no clear answer. We had arrived at a decision when we went to the temple and that answer was clearly confirmed as we listened to the sweet whisperings of the Spirit that seem to speak more clearly away from the noise of the world.

  

              While Wayne attended District meetings, I hung out with the other senior missionaries. We all ate lunch at this restaurant and then we took pictures of cool front doors and beautiful building materials. We decided this entry way was our favorite as we walk through back alleys that are much more characteristic of South Korea than the busy, wide main thoroughfares lined with box stores and high-rise buildings.

               Then Sunday dawned and we had a chance to fast and share testimonies with our friends at church. We felt an outpouring of the Spirit in both meetings where testimonies of faith and gratitude were shared by Koreans,  Africans, Filipino, and soldiers. We are all God’s children and he pours out his Spirit and love on all who seek him in faith.

       

         Our African friend who is preparing his papers to serve a mission was given the Melchizedek Priesthood today.  He shared his gratitude for the many blessings he has received as he does his best to keep the commandments, pray, and trust in the Lord’s timing for him. He took another African with him to the temple yesterday where they did baptisms for the dead. The other man is well over six feet tall so I asked him about his experience. He said  with his big broad smile that he stood at the very front of the font and bent his knees when they immersed him so his full body would fit under the water. He is eager to have the opportunity to make further covenants with the Lord in the temple and humbly waits the timing of the Lord. They amaze me at their gratitude for everything they do have even though they are refugees from their homeland seeking to provide food and shelter for the family from whom they are separated.   

           Our soldiers were almost all on duty today with the exception of three officers, but our chapel filled with other soldiers and a DOD contractor here on temporary duty. One of the soldiers shared his journey from a 19-year-old who had figured out that God was just a myth like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny to a young man who knew there was a God who heard his lame prayer and desperate plea for help. He said that everyone needs that defining moment when they know God is real. He experienced some scoffing from an officer who wanted “proof” there was a God. He said that he had his own proof in that quiet moment in the February cold of Alaska; and he wanted to tell the officer that he, too, could have proof.

                God is our loving Father. He has given us this opportunity to learn and grow and to choose faith. He beacons and invites and patiently waits for us to seek hope through faith. How grateful we are for the Gift of the Holy Ghost to comfort, teach, and guide us.