Celebration of New Life

                 

                 The winter has been cold and long so we have eagerly been looking for signs of spring. This week we saw the beauty in South Korea, we had been promised, occurs in the spring. The first blooms were the yellow forsythia bushes and then the beautiful Magnolia trees. This is a white magnolia near the chapel at Camp Casey but there are also light pink blooms on other trees.

                Cherry blossoms are the signal of spring here. The trees are planted along roadsides and the rivers. Almost every dong (town) has some type of festival to celebrate the blooming of the cherry trees. Wayne and I hiked to Soyosan on Saturday to see what we could find. We were not disappointed.

                The third most common blossom in spring is the light purple azalea that grows wild on the mountainsides. There are a few in the parks and they add color to the season.

We have seen some little purple violets and even some white ones. There are tiny white and yellow flowers that look like weeds blooming. There is a yellow flower that looks similar to the parrot’s beak blooming next to the trail. 

We found that the Koreans have a different definition of weed than we do. As we walked today there were men and women cutting the leaves of low-growing plants and then we saw them for sale at the vendors along the trail at Soyosan. Men were snipping off the leaves just emerging from the buds from a particular bush along the trail and we wondered whether they were going to eat them as a side dish or boil them for a tea.

Korea seems to hold a new adventure around every corner. On Wednesday, my friend Victoria took me by the hand and off I went to wherever she led. It reminded me of the Faith Walks the Young Women do at Girl’s Camp. She speaks only a little English; I speak only a little Korean; and everyone in the countryside speaks Korean.

She took me to a bus stop and we rode a “little” bus to Jeonguk about 15 minutes north. Our first stop was at a market to buy “baby plants.” Sister Kong met us there and helped Victoria choose which plants to buy. She kept asking me what I wanted to buy, but the only plant I recognized was Romaine lettuce and she had already selected several of those.

Bro. Bae (husband of Sis. Kong) picked us up and we rode another fifteen minutess into the countryside until we were near the top of a little valley. There was a wonderful property owned by a Protestant Church where the Bae’s live as caretakers. There were two greenhouses and at least an acre of cultivated fields. We helped Bro. Bae put our baby plants into the soil that he had already prepared. Then we harvested lettuce and then green onions. Victoria dug up two large garbage sacks full of green onions and Bro. Bae sent them all home with us. Victoria sheered off the leaves of several of the miscellaneous plants growing near the onions. They all looked like weeds to me. We ate a simple meal of Korean dumplings, rice cakes, and a white melon before Bro. Bae brought us home.

                Those were the adventures but most of our week was spent in service at the USO mentoring soldiers so far away from their families. On Thursday, we provided support for a campaign to encourage the soldiers to drink “responsibly.” The rest of our time was spent with our missionaries and members.

                Sunday brought the Easter celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The elders brought two soldiers they met last night at their finding activity. We’re looking forward to fellowshipping them as they begin to study with the missionaries. Our female officer was back after almost a month being drawn away by her role to oversee her soldiers who broke rules and were in trouble. I taught her another temple preparation class. She is so excited to look forward to being sealed to her husband. One of our African elders who has been away since Christmas was back so I did my best to encourage him to join us on Monday evenings for our Institute class so he can begin studying while he waits for an opportunity to take college courses. He kills chickens twelve hours a day and has hopes to one day work with his mind rather than his hands. We’re trying to generate a large enough group to begin the Pathways program here in Dongducheon. Easter with the Koreans was a wonderful celebration complete with two kinds of Easter rice cakes.

                Our meeting at the Camp Casey Chapel had a record attendance of soldiers who are actually stationed here. Each soldier enjoys one-on-one attention to share their week. We learned that a Korean soldier died when he turned his tank on its top and all about the shiny new tanks the South Korean soldiers have as equipment. Our soldiers are on 10-minutes to fight alert and expect to be the first deployed if conflict occurs. Protecting us is their job and they are confident in their equipment and skills. Vice Pres. Pence was at the JSA today so they were on extra high alert.

                One of the chaplain assistants who has been working at the Camp Casey Chapel since January asked if she could meet me for coffee this week. She is Italian from the Bronx, complete with the accent. The topic of coffee led to a discussion of the Word of Wisdom which led to her interest in studying different religions. She accepted a Book of Mormon to begin reading this week so we can talk about it when we meet for lunch on Friday. The sister missionaries joined our conversation because they couldn’t leave my sight while on the post and directed her to use mormon.org to find more information on our church. Heavenly Father loves and watches over all His children. What a wonderful blessing to be called as a missionary to share the message of Jesus Christ to those seeking more light and peace. 

Korean Hospitality

           

             This week we did some one-on-one tutoring for soldiers in addition to the many hours we spent greeting soldiers at the USO. Tysha Hart came for help with her writing.

Frank Fykes has a dream to become an officer and is a dream to mentor. He is appreciative of every minute of instruction and returns each week with the homework assigned completed. In the meantime, we are preparing to teach a group of 25 soldiers in a BESEP review course.

                Victoria has come three times for a combination English/Korean study. She helps me with my Korean and I help her with her English. Our goal is to be able to talk to one another without a translator and we are doing well. We are speaking mostly in English but we are able to share ideas and feelings on a basic level.

                On Friday, we were included in the annual High Priest social in the Uijeonbu Ward since some of their high priest’s meet with us on Sunday. Thankfully, Brother Bae picked us up and gave us a ride to the apartment in Uijeonbu. Victoria was there to assist us in communicating and Sister Kuhn (who also meets with us on Sunday) used the more relaxed setting to practice her English. We were able to enjoy a wonderful variety of Korean foods and fellowship with the “Over 60’s.” (I think they told Victoria that the group was exclusive to those over sixty because she just celebrated her sixtieth birthday. Now she just barely qualified to be part of the group. She is such a bright, happy person that she seems easy to tease and joke around with. Most of the humor goes over our heads. We just laugh when everyone else laughs without any clue why.)

                The food was served at low tables with guests sitting on the floor. All the food was in the middle of the table and each guest had their own chop sticks, bowl of rice, and bowl of seaweed soup with spoon. The lettuce served as a wrap for anything you want to put into it. Almost always you include a bit of rice. There was a fried fish, mollusk of some sort, pork, spicy chicken wings, kimchi, hot green peppers, sliced garlic and a variety of vegetables and fried foods. One of the foods was acorn gelatin. We’ve been interested in seeing the actual food they make from the acorns since we watched our neighbors gathering them. We ate slowly and tried to pass the test of being Korean by enjoying the foods in front of us. Wayne ate a chicken wing and told me it wasn’t too spicy. I ate a green chili and found it to be pretty mild. The chicken wing I ate burned all the way down and Wayne drew a chili pepper hot enough to boil water. The meal ended with a plate of wonderful fresh fruit: pineapple, strawberries, and Asian pears.

We both felt like we had enjoyed a taste of true Korean culture compliments of these kind Koreans who know us only as the senior missionaries serving in Dongducheon. They opened their home and their hearts to us and we appreciate their kindness.

The Koreans love to eat together so they planned a meal to follow watching General Conference this morning. They served bibimbap which is rice with lots of vegetables usually decoratively arranged in the bowl and then topped with a fried egg. It is eaten by stirring it altogether. Today we could choose how much kimchi we added and it was really delicious. The Koreans serve fruit for dessert. You can see what I brought. Those two cakes disappeared quickly. We watched more General Conference with the soldiers on post in the afternoon and then another full session of General Conference with our district of missionaries here at our apartment after that. It’s pretty amazing to be able to access the words of the prophets half-way around the world.

Korean Wedding

                We experienced Korean culture on two occasions this week in two celebrations. The USO hosted a dinner for the volunteers at a local buffet restaurant as an occasion to recognize the hours of service we have provided to the soldiers. While Wayne and I tried to find foods that would not make us sick (quite unsuccessfully) the three Koreans at the table next to us boiled shrimp, squid, and     octopi in a soup which they ate.

We decided the reason we keep receiving recognition for our volunteer service here is that there are so few of us. Each was given a The President’s Volunteer Service Award matching their hours of service. It was a nice medallion and certificate. These soldiers and Koreans who serve with us are the cream of the crop as they serve many hours to make the benefits of the USO available to the military personnel.

On the following day we left early to attend a session of the Seoul Temple prior to our attendance at the wedding of the son of our neighbor, Victoria Park. Victoria, her daughter, and a friend of the daughter were on the train platform ready to board the same train. They were also going to Sincheon to have makeup applied and their hair styled. It gave us the opportunity to interact with her daughter a little and begin to become acquainted. Victoria informed us that the venue for the wedding had been changed because of the rain yesterday so it was good we saw them this morning for that reason, too. They suggested that we catch the 153 bus at Sincheon. She drew us a map. We used our phones to translate words so that we could communicate.

With the help of a kind Korean who recognized our name badges and temple bags and identified himself as a member of the same church we found the bus stop for the 153. Another Korean helped us identify our exit stop. We crossed the beautiful Han River.

The Korean National Assembly Building is located on an island in the Han River. Victoria’s son works for the Korean National Assembly so he arranged for his wedding to be in one of the reception centers on the island.

We couldn’t resist noting the unique personality of the Korean lion.

At the door of the reception center are two tables, one for the bride and one for the groom. There is a guest book, envelopes for guests to insert money as the gift and tickets to the luncheon to follow the ceremony. The groom, his sister, and mother were near their table to greet their guests.

The ceremony began when the two mothers dressed in the traditional Hangul gowns entered the hall and each lit a candle. They then took a place of honor to view the ceremony. The bride and groom entered together. There was an exchange of rings and I’m assuming vows because both the bride and the groom said, “Yes,” at a signaled time. 

            There was a trio of a violin, cello, and piano that played Arirang (a favorite Korean song equivalent to America the Beautiful) at the beginning and then as a performance during the ritual. A tenor sang to the couple a song that must have been a love song. He had fun with the couple. Then the bride joined the musicians and played something on a traditional Korean stringed instrument. It was also very beautiful music.

The bride and groom bowed to the bride’s parents with the broom prostrating himself and then they hugged and did the same with the groom’s parents except Victoria had her husband’s older brother sitting with her. Some young children paraded down the aisle and each gave the bride a red rose. A man went to the podium and offered a prayer near the end. It was very formal and very beautiful. Both the bride and groom looked very, very happy. The crowd clapped and enjoyed the ceremony as well. Victoria said that it was a happy day, but also a sad day as she remembered her husband who was not there. She was the only one who shed any tears. She insisted we be included in the large group of family when the final pictures were taken.

While the guests were eating the bride and groom changed into the traditional Korean wedding attire to greet their guests and take more pictures. 

            We were told there was an amazing amount of food at Korean weddings. We were still amazed at table after table of food from salads and fruit to fresh sea food, main dishes of every kind plus specialty foods, beverages, and desserts. We were told that you couldn’t eat even a bite of everything that would be served. I think Wayne tried a little of almost everything that didn’t look spicy. I played it safe with fruits, salad and fresh sea food.

While the cultural experience of the wedding was wonderful, the highlight for me was the opportunity to meet Victoria’s children and other family and develop Jeong with the friends who have asked to learn more about the church Victoria is so excited about and recently joined. Enjoying the peace and revelation of the temple followed by an awesome missionary experience made a pretty perfect day.

Participants in History

                Family Home Evening studying the Doctrine and Covenants is a wonderful way to begin our week. You can see Wayne, our sister missionaries (Sister Hale and Sister Frint), Bro. Kamarath, our new elder (Elder Yu), Ellis and Elder Shepherd.

                We met twice with Victoria this week. On Tuesday the elders tried to make certain she understood all the commandments she would be covenanting to keep when she entered the waters of baptism and we took time to address concerns she had as well. She joked that she had joined lots of churches before and it was always very easy, but this church was hard.

As we moved toward her baptism interview on Thursday, she was worried that she may not pass. After Elder Anderson (assisted by Elder Barney as translator) finished the interview and told her that she was ready for baptism Victoria wanted to celebrate passing her baptism interview. She took seven missionaries to a neighborhood restaurant for dinner.

                We recognized the rice and enjoyed a soup with bean sprouts, but the only other food we recognized were these tiny crabs. The elders said you were supposed to crack them open and suck out the meat. Wayne was brave and tried. He said he didn’t detect any meat, only what tasted like crab waste and sand. I noticed that none of the elders ate two.

It was a one-person business. Our hostess was also the cook, waitress, busboy, and diswasher. She was very friendly and told Victoria that she doesn’t go to church now because many people come to eat at her restaurant on Sunday. There was a group of three men who came to eat while we were there and almost every chair was filled.

                The whole week was focused on the baptism of Victoria on Saturday evening. As soon as we arrived at the chapel in Uijeonbu, the Korean sisters surrounded her, trying to make certain everything was perfect.  This was Elder Shepherd’s first opportunity to baptize and he was very, very happy. I think Victoria was disappointed that neither her daughter or son came. Often she expressed the wish that she had found this gospel while her children were still young so that she could have taught them about it in their youth.

                She shared her testimony by dividing her life into four parts: her childhood that was hard because her mother died when she was one and she was raised by two different step-mothers; her married life as a wife and mother which began when she was twenty and ended when her husband was killed suddenly in a car accident at age 34; her professional life which came as she completed university studies and worked as director in a counseling office in Seoul; and her time as a member of Christ’s true church that was beginning today on her 60^th birthday.

                There were almost forty people who came to celebrate representing her new gospel family. Among the group were these two young women who called Victoria their teacher. They were happy women who requested copies of The Book of Mormon from the missionaries before they left. They do not live in our area so it will be other missionaries who have the opportunity to meet with them as they begin their journey to know for themselves whether The Book of Mormon is the word of God, truly another testament of Jesus Christ, and whether Jesus Christ truly restored His priesthood authority and keys to Joseph Smith establishing His kingdom for the last time in our dispensation.

                The journey continued on Sunday when Elder Anderson (with Ricky Kong as interpreter) confirmed Victoria a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with the invitation to receive the Holy Ghost as her constant companion. He gave her a sweet blessing to be filled with the Holy Ghost and the gift of charity as she keeps the commandments and serves those around her.

                Also in the meeting was a member of the bishopric from the Uijeonbu Ward. He had come to welcome Victoria, but also to officially organize the Dongducheon Group with a group leader with authorization to meet and administer the sacrament in this area of South Korea. Sunday will be a historical marker of the expansion of the gospel here. The Korean sister who gave her very first sacrament meeting talk today has been able to attend sacrament meeting because of the organization of this group. Since they began to meet with us in January, she has only missed attending once. She still travels a long way to bring her son to church. She also taught the Relief Society lesson and was at the baptism on Saturday night. There were more than twice as many Koreans in our meeting today than Americans and Africans combined.

                Rachel and her two sons came to sacrament meeting on Sunday for the first time in many weeks. Her husband was not with her to help her wrestle the two active boys so Sister Hale volunteered to help me teach the boys in a Primary class during the second hour. This freed Rachel to enjoy an hour of church without distractions and gave us an opportunity to provide the boys with gospel teaching through activities, stories, and song. They are darling boys, Eli and Evan, with a full measure of energy. We are hoping having Primary available for the children will encourage this family to return to regular church attendance.

                I invited all of the Relief Society sisters, Korean, African, and sister missionaries to my home to watch the General Women’s Conference together. My invitation was accepted by the sister missionaries and two of the three African sisters. The spirit in the General Women’s Conference and the music were wonderful. Even though both sisters insisted they needed to leave directly afterwards, both stayed to eat and visit. They needed the fellowship as much as the instruction. We will continue to pray that these sweet sisters will return to full activity.

Unexpected Honor

                We made some adjustments to our schedule to be at the Garrison Commander’s staff meeting on Wednesday. Also present were the Camp Commanders for each of the army units near the demilitarized zone.  Someone told Col. Newton that we were teaching his soldiers and he wanted to show his appreciation. 

                These Commander’s Coins are an important Army tradition; we just didn’t expect to be presented with one. Later, this week we learned that we are the only teachers for the BSEP review class in Area 1; the other teacher resigned; so we will teach as much as we can from now until we return home.  The education office told us they expect the next class to fill within a few minutes of it being announced because of the large backlog of soldiers needing it.

                We caught a bus to Camp Red Cloud where the garrison headquarters are located. As we walked around the post, all the soldiers were wearing their full battle armor including their helmet and bullet-proof vests. Wayne and I felt a little vulnerable in our light jackets. There are multiple military exercises happening along the DMZ with lots of military personnel here from around the world simulating war scenarios. We know it is training, but it looks pretty real. We worked at the USO at Camp Casey almost every day serving the military here so the USO staff were free to set up a mini-USO at the firing range for the military there to enjoy.

                This was a transfer week for our missionaries. Only Elder Shepherd stayed, but two sister missionaries were sent to us. We’re all so excited to have these sisters who have hit the ground running. There charge is to find the Koreans in this area who stopped attending when the meetings were shifted thirty minutes south to Uijeonbu and invite them back. We’ll do all we can to help them.

              This is a picture of Elder Sanguinsine, Elder Shepherd, Victoria, Genan, and Elder Beesinger at the last missionary lesson this set of elders had with her. Victoria is preparing for her baptism to be on her 60th birthday, March 25th. This is a special birthday in Korea and being baptized is how Victoria wanted to celebrate. Our Korean sisters are planning the celebration after the baptism.

Kidnapped by a Harmony

            The most exciting event of the week occurred on March 7^th when our first great-grandson, Henry David Bogle, was born. 

            The most unusual occurred on Sunday when an old, Korean pulled me into her apartment so she could feed me. Her daughter was surprised as she poked her head out of the bathroom where she had probably just taken a shower to find her mother had brought home an American. In English, she asked me if I spoke Korean, I told her very little. She explained that her mother had Alzheimer’s. I did my best to exit gracefully and escape to my own apartment.

In Korea, all older women are called, harmony, which means grandmother. I always stop and bow to them when I encounter them on the streets. They smile and often giggle. This harmony was near our doorway when we came home from our church meeting so I stopped to greet her. She immediately began to tell me a tale in Korean. It didn’t seem to matter that my only responses were nonverbal. I didn’t dare say, “Nay,” which means yes because I didn’t understand any of her Korean. I’m told that harmonies have their own language that only they and their own children understand. The only word I picked up was the word for food so I thought she wanted to come to my apartment to eat. More appropriate to her culture was for her to want to feed me so she took me to her apartment.

The elders taught my neighbor, Victoria, two lessons on Friday this week and then I taught her the English lesson. She has agreed that we will continue the language study together after she is baptized. I will teacher her English and she will help me with my Korean. We want to be able to talk to one another without the elders to translate. In the picture are a Korean couple who meet with us on Sunday. They bring Victoria home each week so they can visit with her.

Wayne and I spent extra time at the USO this week because the grandmother of one of the two paid employees died and Korean funerals last a week. There were soldiers in from all over Asia for the war simulation exercises happening here and Suk Harper, who directs the USO, was setting up an extension of our USO at the gunnery range where the exercises are happening. Someone needed to hold the fort. With the weather a bit warmer, we walked to Camp Casey this week and then explored the local hardware stores on the way home. They are a full Home Depot in a MUCH smaller space!

We went to our district meeting in Uijeonbu on Wednesday after our language training. It’s amazing how much joy one fruit rollup can bring to an American missionary. This group of missionaries will be split on Wednesday with the new set of transfers. We’re pretty excited because we’re promised a set of sisters here in Dongducheon. We checked out their apartment and will add food back into it before they arrive. I’m forcing Wayne to share some of his kimchi and curry because every Korean missionary apartment needs kimchi and rice.

Joy in Missionary Service

                We started to settle back into our regular routine of missionary work after some pretty exciting adventures. We have a solid group of soldiers who gather for FHE each Monday evening. They held the fort together while we were away and were happy to learn more about how being united in their faith in Jesus Christ can bind their families together even when they seem worlds apart.

                Our mentors at the USO were happy to have some day help to free them up to do fundraising and arrange activities in the satellite field posts. On Tuesday, I left Wayne at the USO desk to run some errands we had planned to do together after our shift. We felt crunched for time so I went alone. As I started out of the commissary, I recognized Sister Dale who had come with her husband to church the first week in January and we haven’t seen or heard from them since. I greeted her and she stopped to visit for a while. I knew the timing of this temporal errand had been prompted by the Lord.

My next errand was to the Post Exchange and there, at almost 2 pm, was the Sanchik family eating lunch together. I’ve been doing my best to follow on their well-being since Sister Sanchik had a baby boy five weeks early on Thursday. I knew the baby had some concerns early and the delivery was C-section. I was able to talk with Brenda, see pictures of the newborn, and learn of his continued progress. They were happy to know of our love and prayers on their behalf. The Lord is able to do His own work, and sometimes he uses senior missionaries.

The elders and I met twice with my neighbor, Victoria. She shared her story with us and a very personal, sacred experience after the death of her husband. She was only thirty-four. She chronicled her search for truth and her first encounter with The Book of Mormon. She was reluctant to read it but unable to find answers to her questions elsewhere. As she read a little at a time, she began to be drawn to the book until she came to know that it was the word of God, the answer to her searching. She has read and marked it and prayed. She has read the Gospel Essentials Manual, Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. Her top question is, “What do I need to do to be baptized.” The elders have started presenting the five lessons and she has a baptism goal date. She even fasted today.

Assisting in the teaching of Victoria with her limited English has required me to call down the gift of tongues and the elders to help translate. I have used my Korean in ways I didn’t think I knew how. I even bore a simple testimony in Korean today in our fast and testimony meeting. It wasn’t perfect, but the faces of the Koreans was like seeing a host of cheerleaders celebrating an impending win.

We held a fast and testimony meeting on post for one soldier this afternoon, but the rest of us who were there were the beneficiaries of the wonderful spirit that fills those tiny meetings. Tender feelings of the heart are easily shared in the company of those who understand and appreciate deep spiritual experiences. I don’t think they charge enough for the joy and blessings associated with being an emissary for Jesus Christ.

Wayne and I were able to take the train to Seoul to attend the temple on Saturday. I learned the answer to a question I have puzzled over for years as I sat through the instruction. The instruction was still the same, but my eyes were opened to see what I hadn’t seen before. It was so plain that I was amazed that it had eluded me for so long. The temple truly is a house of learning, a house of prayer, a house of worship. We were able to teach the Temple Preparation class to four members of our branch today. It is wonderful to see so many of them eager to take this next step in their conversion. Three of them look forward to being sealed to their spouse and family.

The exciting news this week was the mission call to Charlotte, NC, to our granddaughter, Kara Atkisson. We trace my Taylor ancestors to North Carolina so in a way she is being called to share the gospel in a place where she has roots. Some of the people she encounters may well be cousins. We know she will grow as she experiences the joy of being God’s missionary.