Exploring the new neighborhood

We ended up doing quite a bit of traveling this week so we took some pictures to share. This is pretty typical of a Korean market street. The things you miss with these pictures are the smells. There is always a very strong smell of garlic and frying oil. Old women sit on the streets and peel garlic that is sold in the shops. You also miss the sounds. The markets employ sales people who try to invite buyers by calling out loudly. The produce beside me is garlic as they pull it from the ground.

 

This market at Uijeonbu was the first we have encountered. Our area is too small for a street market. We only have one small grocery store. The price of a watermelon in our store is $24. The same one you pay five or six dollars for in Costco. We could have purchased a watermelon in the market for $9 but we had a very long bus ride and no way to carry it so we settled for some nectarines, small, yellow melons that taste a little like honey dew, and two very large apples the sales person promised were VERY sweet.

After our zone conference a local mission leader arrived as the meeting ended with three Korean pizzas and three liters of lemon-lime soda. Wayne had a piece of each of the pizzas. One pizza looked like cheese, another, had yellow squash, and the other had something that looked pepperoni. I did see corn on them. Wayne said they tasted like potato and squash. The cheese wasn’t really cheese and there was no hint of tomato sauce. They were not spicy and were a cultural experience that I missed because the gentleman knew they had wheat in the crust.

On Friday we had lots of adventures. Much of the day felt like we were in a mystery book looking for clues to find secreted treasures. I held the map; Wayne the GPS; and we did our best to ask for clues from passing Koreans. We were able to ride the shuttle from Camp Casey to Yongson AFB. Our route took us along a river that was very beautiful with the tall egrets and herons fishing its banks and ducks and cormorants as well. There were parks along both shores as well as a lovely bicycle and walking pathway. The seats were very comfortable and the bus air conditioned. We even managed to do a bit of practice with vocabulary using my new flash cards.

This is one of the bridges across the Hun River. Pvt. Eggers told us his commander said these bridges are expected to be the first targets North Korea will hit if the cease-fire fails and he is to be on the other side of the river before they blow. Lots of seasonal saber rattling goes on here and life goes on. It is a pattern and has been this way for decades.  “…if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:29) It still keeps many of our soldiers on 10-minute battle alert and unable to attend sacrament meeting. While our sacrament meeting attendance has been very low the past two weeks, we have been able to visit with many members as they wander through the food court during our fellowshipping activity on Thursdays. The Lord knows what is happening in Area 1 in South Korea and He is in charge. We just do our small part each day and know that “…by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.” (1 Nep 37:4).​

Joy and Gladness

The big explore this week was a trip to northern Seoul for our first zone conference. Wow! We were so impressed with the elders and sisters who prepared and presented the meeting that we’re excited for the future of the church. It is a zone of about 35 missionaries so it was a good sized group and the missionaries directing the meeting were utilizing almost to perfection the principles of teaching they learned in the MTC. They switched off teaching in English and Korean so it gave us experience listening to the language. Wayne’s niece, Maren Young, just arrived in the mission last Wednesday so this was her first zone conference, too. We have the apartment the farthest north in the zone and hers is the apartment at the very south end of the zone, about an hour by train, but we hope to see her at other zone activities.

The rest of the week was a mixture of activities. We are now in charge of the Monday Family Home Evening at the base chapel and Wayne told a fun story to get the soldiers thinking about choices. We started volunteering at the USO greeting soldiers as they enter and dispensing game controllers and DVDs. The director plans to have us tutoring soldiers in math and reading to boost their score on the military entrance exam so they qualify for more opportunities.

We did more exploring in our neighborhood between rains. We found factories to the north, some with horrible smells of decaying flesh so we’re thankful the wind blows north. The mountains are very close on both the east and west so there is a little housing and some older shops on those sides. Some of the housing is modern and very nice; next to them are small, older and often decaying homes and businesses that speak of a minimal standard of living.

We’ve met most of our soldiers now and finally have a list to contact the others. Wayne gave his first District Council talk today and we went to our first Ward Council. We’ll do what we can to teach the branch members how to build their family tree on Family Search and find their own names to take to the temple. There are lots of great opportunities to serve.

One evening this week when I wrote in my journal, these are the feelings I expressed: I am feeling very happy this evening. I feel the mantle of a missionary and it is very sweet. It is nice to focus on serving and to have so much time to work as a team with my favorite person. In speaking about missionaries in D&C 75:21 the Lord promises, “And you shall be filled with joy and gladness…” Wayne and I are thankful to be recipients of this wonderful blessing.

Monsoon Rains

The monsoon rains came on the 4^th of July. The river through the town which is usually a small stream at best was very swollen and muddy. This little stream was touching the corn on the far bank and over the concrete on the near bank. You can also see the mountains to the east.  Wayne is framed by the mountain to the west. We are standing in about the same spot which should give you a perspective of the width of the valley.

We went for a little explore in our neighborhood between our apartment and the two rivers. We saw an egret and great blue heron near the river and several ducks. We found a piano lesson studio, a school, two auto repair shops, several restaurants and lots of beautiful gardens. I tried talking with a couple of old ladies sorting some sort of herb that looked like chives. They gave us the name for the grass and said some other things in Korean. They think we understand because we try to speak in Korean.

I tried to tell a man, “Beautiful garden,” but he didn’t seem to understand anything I said. He tried to tell me about a flower that they eat the shoots or stems of it. He jabbered on and on, but I didn’t catch anything except the name of the flower that he kept repeating. I can’t remember that now. At least we’re trying.

I was given Elder Holland’s April conference address as a topic for my first talk. He asked us to: “Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing.” And then he added this encouragement: “Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.” (God’s) divine love and unfailing help will be with us even when we struggle—no, will be with us especially when we struggle.” I add my witness to Elder Holland’s. We feel His hand daily in our lives.

Lots of Smiles and Giggles

                The price of one grapefruit at the commissary was $3 so I took Yeji up on her offer to show me how to shop for vegetables at the Korean market around the corner. She met me with her baby and umbrella, to shade from the sun which peeked out at least once since we arrived. I came home with a few vegetables that I am used to cooking and a few she suggested she enjoyed. Now Wayne is smiling because the food I cook tastes more like home.

                We needed to go to Seoul to apply for our foreigners cards so we hopped a fast train, well it was almost that easy. No one in the station seemed to understand what we meant when we told them we were going to Seoul. I’m thinking it is a pretty hard word to mess up and it is the capital of the country. An angel in a red dress who spoke English took us to the train and then had us switch trains when another arrived. Both went to Seoul but the second was the fast train. She told us that you always define your trip by the last stop on the train line which is Incheon if we want to go to Seoul. Another angel in a blue shirt asked us our destination just a few stops before we needed to switch trains and I pointed to the stop on my map. He said, “Same place. Follow me,” so that’s what we did.

                After we applied for our foreigner’s card, with help from another senior missionary, we were told to go visit the sights in downtown Seoul. That sounded easy enough. We had umbrellas and a map and a basic idea of where to walk. We found the old Presidential Palace. The picture is taken from inside the palace looking out to the modern skyline of Seoul. The buildings went on and one with one courtyard after another. The rain increased so we went in the Folk Museum and walked around learning more of the Korean history and culture. The rain hadn’t let up so we walked around a bit more and finally decided to brave the monsoon. We had to laugh because we were both soaked to the skin in a matter of minutes even with umbrellas. At least it was a warm rain and we were able to change into dry clothes at the mission home. We did more giggling as we reviewed our Korean vocabulary words because our pronunciation is so comical, but we keep trying.

                On Saturday morning the Pres. Sonksen insisted the missionaries drop us at the temple. He did not trust our orienteering or the weather. The missionary drove through back alleys, took U-turns that reversed our direction a couple of times and then there was the temple. Our stake president forgot to activate our recommends so our entry wasn’t assured. It took a member of the temple presidency to review the signatures and let us in. It is a lovely small temple filled with the peace of the Lord’s spirit and the session was in English.

Our next adventure was to find the train station and a train to bring us back to Dongducheon. We found a No. 1 train headed north and jumped on. It was a crowded train with lots of interesting Korean people. We were the only foreigners. We watched the train empty as we made our way north. When we reached Uijeondo where the nearest LDS chapel is located but about 20 minutes by train from our stop, the people on the train shooed us off the train. It didn’t make any sense to us until the train reversed itself and headed back toward Seoul. Then we had to figure out how to cross the rail lines to catch the train to Dongducheon. By the time we reached the right platform our train was just pulling out. We figured we had about a 30 minute wait for another train so we watched the children playing on the train platform and tried to ask directions from a Korean couple who spoke no English. We showed them our stop on the map and they kept us from catching the first train that came. The second one brought us home. We were smiling when we entered our own apartment again.

                Sunday was the first baptism since we arrived. The elders had been teaching Andrew Eggers, a soldier, who was our first military friend here; we support each other. This was Andrew’s fourth baptism (fifth if you count that his toes came up the first time and they baptized him again). His father was Catholic so he was baptized Catholic as a baby. His mother was Baptist so he was baptized Baptist as a boy. He was baptized, Non-denominational when he joined the Army, and now he was being baptized again by one having authority. He will only be here a few more months.

                What a blessing to be on the Lord’s errand and to see the Lord’s hand in our life daily. We love and miss each of you. Elder Wayne and Sister Genan Anderson

Being a missionary is a BIG adventure

In front of the base chapel

Wow!! Being a missionary is a BIG adventure. I gave the first discussion to my seatmate on the flight to Detroit. His interest in religion was only intellectual, but he had some interesting misconceptions about our religion and was eager to hear answers. When we landed in high turbulence, the airplane tipped from one set of wheels to the other causing a little fear that a wing would drag. When it didn’t, I told my seatmate he had the angels who were under those wings to thank for our safe landing. Then I reminded him that Mormon’s believe in angels; he smiled. There were 25 missionaries departing on that flight and we felt protected.

                After meeting Pres. Sonkson and his wife and having a light dinner and a sleep we were given the tour of Seoul and how to negotiate the public transportation. There was a bit of walking, lots of sights to see, and plenty of helpful Koreans ready to make sure we found the right train. We will need to return to Seoul soon to get our foreigner’s card and we will take pictures. We didn’t know we were going on a tour so we didn’t have our camera. After a Korean lunch, complete with kimchi. It all tasted good going down, but our insides weren’t so happy later.

                We took a lovely ride through the Korean countryside about an hour north of Seoul to our apartment here in Dungducheon. We have a lovely view of about an acre of garden that looks like a patchwork quilt the locals tend every day. It seems to be a community plot. Out our other windows is a view of the city and the wooded hills beyond. We seem to be in a narrow valley.

                Our first missionary encounter here was with a soldier named Andrew Egger. He followed us from the post office to a canteen where we had gone for a late lunch. He recognized our badges and stayed to visit while we ate. He told us about the branch and the activities as we got to know a little about him. Later that evening at a fellow-shipping activity we met the missionaries and told them that Andrew promised to be there. The elders told us then that Andrew was investigating the church and progressing towards baptism. It wasn’t a coincidence that Andrew was our first contact with the church here in Dungducheon.

                Everyday is an adventure as we try to learn new things about our surroundings and our assignment. There seems to be enough things on the wish list of the leaders to keep three couples busy so we’ll do our best to choose wisely how we use our energy and time. At least we feel very needed and will be kept very busy.

                It’s impossible to explain how kind everyone has been to us. We look forward to the opportunity to give back in some small way. The week was filled with tender mercies; it is easy to see the hand of the Lord in his work and his love for the people here in the “Northern Branch” of South Korea. We have been daily thankful to have felt his guidance in our choice of tasks to tackle and the people placed in our path.

The interior of our apartment. 

A description of the apartment from Wayne: We have successfully moved into our apartment today. Our apartment has two large bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and two baths.  We are on the 14th floor of a large building so we have great views of the surrounding hills.  We made our first visit to Camp Casey to purchase a few things at the commissary.  Everyone has been super nice and told us how much we are needed here.  

The picture out our north window has the green to the right of the tall building and the other is looking south. The near buildings are reflections of what our own building looks like from the outside.

PS. The sewer smell is GONE! One of the members came over and wrote down the label for every button in the house and cured the smell.We are very happy campers tonight.​

Almost

We’re almost in the air. The state of our suitcases verifies the adverb, almost.

It was a week of tender mercies:

At lunch on Monday we met another couple flying to Seoul Korea. They will be in the Seoul Korea South Mission but were told to get acquainted with the senior missionaries in the Seoul Mission, too, so we may meet them again in Korea. They will not be on our flight but there were two young elders next to us who will fly from Salt Lake City to Detroit with us.

We were stressing because our flight information lists our arrival day as Tuesday and our mission president emailed that he thought that meant Wednesday because we cross the international dateline. The travel office said the day of arrival is for the time zone of our arrival city so we arrive on Tuesday. Then we sat across the table from a sister who had been the office missionary in the Philippines and she said that she was in charge of picking up missionaries and never left one waiting in the airport.Tuesday? Wednesday? We'll trust someone will be there.

The testimonies shared by our teachers and fellow missionaries were a wonderful witness of the truthfulness of the work we are being sent forth to do.

Wayne discovered on Thursday that his driver’s license was not in his wallet. We had been asked by our mission president to get international driver’s licenses before we arrived so we had a shuttle from the MTC drop us off at the AAA office. If we had not been obedient to the mission president’s request we may not have discovered the misplaced driver’s license until we were in Korea—a little late. (The office accepted a scanned copy of his license and he found the license in the scanner.)

They told us on Friday that we were called because of our weaknesses, not our strengths and then they gave us ideas how to use our talents to bless those we have been called to serve. We're ready to go forth in faith and trust the Lord will prepare the way before us. It is His work and He will help us.

Full-time Missionaries

Wayne and I officially put on our name tags and became full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We can even introduce ourselves as such in Korean, if you don’t fall asleep before we finish saying it.

The Missionary Training Center was a joyous place for us. We had incredible admiration for the faith, sacrifice, and talents of the other senior couples we worked with. We were pushed beyond our comfort zone as we taught in simulated settings. We were thankful for the volunteers who came to be our “investigators.” They were very patient.

The young Korean missionaries were patient in listening to us practice our Korean and helping us hear how our words are supposed to sound.

We walked the MTC campus and indoor track during breaks to reach our 10,000 steps and appreciated the treat of hearing Elder Bednar, an apostle of Jesus Christ, share a message about how the Savior ministered to people one-by-one. His charge to us was to do the same. What a wonderful experience to be surrounded by thousands of young missionaries as they sang a new song Elder Bednar wrote with Paul Cardall. It’s a treat that can only come if you are a senior missionary there with them.

One more week of training for our specific assignment and we are on an airplane to Seoul, Korea.