Thanksgiving

   

       

               This has been a week of feasting! We started on Sunday at the home of Pres. and Sister Rix because she wanted to fix a Thanksgiving dinner for the elders. She is Korean so the food was Korean. I learned last week that Koreans LOVE to feed people and for them to enjoy the food so that’s what I did. I told our hostess that the food was beyond super delicious and she said that she would keep me. Her Korean food really is delicious so I can still hold a temple recommend.

                Monday we had a military escort to the Joint Military Base on the DMZ so we could serve a turkey dinner to the American soldiers serving there. They were very appreciative and gracious in their thanks. As we sat and ate the commanders sat with us and visited. The First Sergeant expressed a desire for us to teach his soldiers the ASVAB review course to help them become promotable. He offered to send a driver for us every day or find us housing there for the two weeks. Anything we asked for, he was willing to provide. We told him that we would be happy to teach his soldiers if he can arrange it. We’ll see if that happens. The Lt. Col. gave us our first military Commander’s Coin. 

                On Wednesday we helped serve a Thanksgiving meal to the soldiers at the Camp Casey USO. This was a much larger group and more commanders and personnel from the area USO office. We were given our second Commander’s Coin from the Regional Director of the USO.  Ms. Harper saved the turkey carcasses for me so I made a big pot of turkey soup. The elders came over to help us eat it since I didn’t have family to share it with.

                Thursday was the Thanksgiving celebration at the military base so we ate with the soldiers at the dining hall. We had the full spread and more. It is the tradition for the officers to serve the Thanksgiving meal so one of our elders was in awe to have been served by a general. It was a general who took this picture of me with one of the decorations in the hall. After the meal we met at the chapel annex with a few of our members and ate a full variety of pie and played games.

                Sunday was the Thanksgiving meal with the branch after our regular meetings. Koreans like to eat together after church. The soldiers and Africans are happy to join in the feasting. A district council member visiting from Seoul said he had to leave his car at work last night because the streets were packed with protestors. He couldn’t even walk through the crowd so he had to take a taxi around the perimeter. The Koreans are determined Park step down as president.

                Elder Anderson and I have been very thankful for many opportunities to serve the people here in Korea. We are thankful for our families and friends who seem so very far away. We are thankful for the Plan of Happiness that includes being sealed to our families forever.

Jeong

This week we learned about Jeong. It is a Korean word that doesn’t have a one-word translation into English. If I have Jeong with you, you respect me. You recognize that I understand your culture and that my behaviors follow the social norms in a way that communicates that I respect your culture and I respect you. So a big part of Jeong is respect, but it is more than that.

If we have Jeong, then we also have a very close bond that English speakers may describe as love. We share a relationship that would include our being willing to serve and sacrifice for one another. The closest I can describe it is the bond I feel with someone who shares my consecration to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We share no blood; we may have only just met; but we are sisters/siblings and we share the same heart.

In Korea, Jeong is defined and an important part of their culture. I learned that my bowing low and greeting the old people in their own language has created instant Jeong. Giving my seat on the train to someone older than I, creates instant Jeong. On the other hand, telling a Korean that I don’t like kimchi is like poking my finger in their eye and telling them their mother is ugly! The appropriate way to approach my feelings about the food is to praise those foods that I DO like and say nothing of the foods that make me sick. I’ve learned two new phrases this week and plan to repent.

We had a mix of activities this week including providing free haircuts for our two handsome missionaries. The tall Elder Carmen hadn’t had a haircut for three months so the hair in my kitchen was almost ankle-deep. I didn’t even recognize him the next time we met because I was used to his long mane. They are such faithful young men and so kind to us. I definitely have Jeong with them.

We were in Seoul twice this week. We visited the hospital at Yongsan AFB for a screening and then returned the next day for the mission conference with P.J. Rogers. Bro. Rogers is THE member of our church who is known and has Jeong with ALL Koreans. He spent two hours with the missionaries helping us understand Korean culture and how to learn the language. He had lots of stories that were VERY funny, because all the missionaries laughed loudly. Unfortunately, he told all his jokes in Korean. He split his presentation between the languages but was such an animated speaker that we understood what he was saying even if we couldn’t translate the words. It was easy to see how easily he develops Jeong with others.

I stopped on the street to take a picture of the quilted items being sold by the grandmothers. I told them, in Korean, that their quilts were beautiful; but I think they hoped I would also purchase something.

We explored our neighborhood in another direction and found a lovely playground for children and adults. Even one train stop south the equipment and facilities were about ten years newer than those in our little park. There was a picture of the landscape in 1950 to compare with today. In those 65 years this area has gone from farmland with a few simple structures for dwellings to multiple high rise buildings and many factories that seem to have no limit to the pollution they can pump into the air. Korea is changing and has hopes to continue to change in the direction of true democracy as evidenced by the continued street protests in Seoul as they hope to force their president to resign. We passed protestors on our way to the mission home, but they protest very peacefully here with singing, signs, and speeches.

               

We did another explore up into the hills (53 flights on the Fitbit) and found the houses just one draw north were much larger and more beautiful. There was no sewage smell in this valley! We wondered if we would be able to see North Korean from the top, but this is our little dong (city).

         

       I thought it was interesting how they placed straw around the trunks of the trees and tied it with a rope woven from the same straw. This must provide protection from the cold winter winds.

                The climb to the ridge was steep and difficult because of the thick layer of leaves. Coming down the slope was slippery and slick as snow so I just sat down and pretended I was sledding.

       

Closer to home, we saw two old people carrying recyclables. She was carrying some metal pieces and he had a cart full of cardboard. This is the house they came home to, in contrast with the home in the picture above. They did have a nice big garden plot. They just looked too old to be supporting themselves with a garden and gathering garbage.

How thankful we are for the Jeong we feel with so many friends and the opportunity to develop Jeong with many more in this beautiful land. On our way home today we met a Korean woman who had lived in Massachusetts for a number of years and she was excited to see an American. She was so frightened about the political landscape in America and South Korea. I took the opportunity to share with her the comfort I receive because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Faith casts out fear. In the end, it will be all right (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley). We have a prophet’s word on it.

Contrasts

One of our major focuses this week was doing missionary apartment checks. The missionaries are good about meeting us at a train station and walking us to their apartment. There are two apartments in each area—one for elders and one for sisters. That means that we need to find our way between apartments and this week it was in Seoul. These are two of the sisters we visited. One is from the
Philippines so she had a little more English than the one from Korea. The other two sisters were both from Korea so communication is just part of the adventure.

This is a picture of the mountains beyond the busy streets at the end of the Seoul subway line to the northeast. The haze is pollution and humidity. This section of the city was nestled between these granite mountains.

The most beautiful sight in the city was the autumn leaves. We do lots of walking and most of the time we only have an approximate idea where we are, but we trust the GPS on our Google Maps, ask a Korean where to go or call with an SOS for someone to come find us. Being lost in Seoul is no longer a novelty. The good news is that we feel pretty comfortable once we find a train station. We only went the wrong direction once this week, but we figured it out before the next stop. Once we were on a train
so packed that it could qualify as a New York elevator and then more people pushed themselves into the train car. BUT, we were on a train and headed home. The train is almost always mostly empty when it reaches our station so we just wait for a seat to open.

I am usually successful in finding someone to talk with on a train. Sometimes it’s just practicing my memorized Korean phrases and sometimes they speak some English. I am learning a few more phrases to extend the conversation. One fun exchange was with an infant about 9 months old. Her
mother put her on the seat beside me and I taught her some English.

We decided to walk west today to see what lies nestled in the low mountains there. We found it a complete contrast from the busy streets of Seoul. First of all, we discovered these mound burial plots nestled right up against the trees and not very far from the summit. They are well kept with beautiful granite stones.

This one had a stone structure that could be a tomb. It probably contains the remains of a more prominent citizen because there were other stone statues (carved monoliths) on the same site. One of the monoliths had a dragon with a ball (probably the world) in its mouth and another had a cat of some kind climbing its side.

There were small plots of farmland all cultivated and harvested by hand. The road was just one lane and the dwellings and their people looked like they stepped out of another century. Huge machinery is right next to the road building a new elevated road or railway line. There is already a tunnel cut into the mountain for it to pass through. A very large middle school sits next to the river and just behind in these mountain dwellings everything is done by hand. It’s no wonder food is so expensive here.

We did encounter our very first local wildlife besides the birds. This lovely bull snake was trying to warm itself in the roadway. It was lethargic enough that it didn’t move when we passed but it was gone when we returned.

In every hidden pocket we seem to find a Buddhist temple and sanctuary. These two very large stone statues are twice the size of a man with so many smaller statues near them that I didn’t begin to count them. There was a bronze laughing Buddha at the entrance of the area and two very noisy dogs that were chained. We didn’t ever see a person.

We had a wonderful Family Home Evening this week taught by a recent member. He is determined to use this time without children hanging on him to learn as much as he can about the history of the church and its doctrine. We had our largest attendance ever, but two of the soldiers leave for gunnery field practice so we won’t see them for a month. This battalion will rotate out to the field over the next few months which will give is a variation in the soldiers we see.

I think one of my favorite times of the day is the language and scripture study with Wayne. This week we finished reading Mormon. It’s amazing how Moroni can have hope when he has just witnessed the
destruction of his whole civilization. He is all alone; his life is in peril every moment; yet he has hope in Jesus Christ and shares it with those who will come after.

The U.S. election doesn’t quite count as the end of our civilization although it seems like it to many people. We can follow the example of Moroni and put our faith in Jesus Christ. He has power to save and stands with his arms outstretched. In Christ we can find peace and hope and joy. What a blessing it is to be a missionary and share that wonderful message.

If I listen with my heart

Elder Carmen, Elder Anderson, Sister Anderson, Elder Anderson, Sister Rix

We fasted last Sunday and I bore my testimony that when we listen with our heart we really do hear the Savior’s voice whether it is in reading the scriptures or listening for answers to prayers. I shared some of our answered prayers this week.

This is what a typical Korean table looks like. There is a main dish cooking in front of me, rice, lettuce to wrap the rice and meat and condiments in at the very end of the table, and dozens of other side dishes. There were four kinds of kimchi, bean soup, tiny sardines, a brine of shrimp and dozens of different types of green vegetables fermented, cooked, and spiced plus regular boiled.

We went with Sister Rix to take the elders to lunch. She took us to a restaurant tucked away in the hills across the river not too far from our apartment. I wouldn’t have known to look for it, but everyone in Korea seems to know it’s there by the number of people there at lunch time on a Monday. It was traditional Korean food and she had a good time introducing us to a variety of tastes and textures. I admit that I didn’t try all of them.  We ate more kimchi and hot stuff than we usually do and I ate lots of tofu that was made fresh today. I usually avoid tofu. Sister Rix was careful not to let us waste any rice. Her mother taught her never to waste rice. She is a woman full of charity and kindness. The elders were very appreciative of the food and a chance to celebrate Elder Anderson’s birthday and transfer.

An answered prayer for guidance in our missionary assignment came with an exchange with a young high school student. The story really began last week when we went south for our District Meeting. On our way home, we had just missed the train giving us 30 minutes so we walked along the station platform. We were greeted by a cheerful old gentleman who was a safety guard. He spoke someEnglish and we talked with him until the train arrived. We had a special connection and knew we hadn't missed the train by accident.

Then this week we went back to the same city because a sister missionary there was ill. Our charge was to go cheer her up. The sisters were both Koreans and speak about as much English as we speak Korean so we had them help us with our Korean language which made them giggle.

When we to the train station (You guessed it!), our train had just left. Our friend the safety guard was delighted to see us again. A high school boy came by and the gentleman then told us that he was a boy he talks to at the station and tries to encourage. The love the older gentleman had for the boy was very apparent and the boy reciprocated his love with respect.

The older gentleman goaded the boy into practicing his English with us. At first, the boy was very shy and didn't want to open his mouth. The old man wouldn't accept excuses. Soon we were having a fine conversation with a mix of English and Korean. The train came and the boy stood by me for the 30 minutes to his station. He continued to talk with me about anything we could figure out to say that either I could say in Korean or he could say in English.

The older woman sitting next to me spoke a bit of English, too, so she joined in trying to help us understand one another. The Spirit was there telling that boy that I truly cared about him. He was so happy. When he left the train, I tried to explain to the woman how much I loved that boy and that is why I wanted to help him with his English to make him feel good about himself. I told her that is why I had come to Korea. She could read my name badge. She knew I was a missionary and she felt the Spirit. 

I don't know why the Lord wanted me to talk to those people this week, but I do know that He gave me the opportunity. The boy never would have talked to us if the old man hadn’t introduced us. The old man wouldn’t have trusted us to speak to the boy if he hadn’t already checked us out. We wouldn’t have met either of them if we had caught our trains. We wouldn’t have been on the train at all if the sisters hadn’t needed cheering.

Our other big adventure this week was a visit to the temple and attendance at the adult session of our district conference. We went to lunch with Pres. And Sister Rix and April Harward between the temple and district meeting. Sister Rix ordered for us what we thought was some of the same food we ate on Monday, but it looked quite different and had different side dishes. We are learning.

There was a conference at the Buddhist meeting house just down the street from the temple so they had strung paper lanterns between the light poles all along the street.

                We learned that the stroke Elder Bastian (another senior missionary) had at the DMZ was a very serious one. As the helicopter headed for the hospital in Seoul the medical crew reported him as unresponsive and said they were ventilating him. The Seoul hospital waved them on and had the helicopter take him on to another hospital where he could receive the care he needed. At that hospital they went in through a vein in his leg and removed a blood clot a full centimeter in length from his brain. That is an operation considered experimental in the United States but one that saved his life. The Lord knew he needed to be in Korea and at the DMZ so he could be at the hospital that could do the procedure he would need to extend his life. He is now able to walk, but his speech has yet to return. They will transport him back to the United States as soon as he is stable enough to travel.

The Lord’s timing

One of the top items on the list of things we were charged to do when we arrived in Korea was to meet with the chaplains. We’ve been here almost five months and our efforts to find a way to do that have unsuccessful until this week. It happened when we were doing an extra shift at the USO. Our post chaplain stepped into the USO so the soldier with him could use the restroom. While he was standing there staring at us he saw our name badges, recognized us as LDS and said, “You are the representatives for the LDS Church. I’ve been looking for you.” He is a wonderful man and has been so kind and welcoming. We are truly thankful to be working with him. He gave us introduction to the garrison chaplain at Camp Red Cloud and we were able to meet with him on Wednesday. Chaplain Lee was equally kind and inclusive. He promised to help us with the necessary paperwork and we volunteered to return on Saturday to help him with a Family Fun Day.

There were lots of children dressed in their costumes to participate in the games with prizes and candy.

                

Brenda and her son, Gabrielle, were there as well as her husband Jerry. Jerry works at the CRC on Red Cloud so he works every Sunday but we see them regularly on Thursday evenings.

Sister Rix is the wife of our Branch President and has fed us Korean food so many times. She has a heart of gold. She brought her daughter. Her husband also works at Camp Red Cloud.

There was also a fun clown who made fun shapes for the children with his balloons. His costume helped him stand out in the crowd.

We had a bit of a breakthrough with our language this week. In our exchange with our Korean neighbor, we actually understood what he asked us and his answers to our questions. He also seemed to understand our Korean. It wasn’t a very long conversation, but it was a beginning.

Early in the week a Korean grandmother met two of her friends in the park. They were peeling very small boiled sweet potatoes and eating them like candy. She invited me and then Wayne to join them. Then she gave us the uneaten potatoes when she left. I consider her a friend, but I haven’t understood a word she has said yet. The next time I passed her I tried to tell her thank you for the sweet potatoes and I think she thought I was thanking her for giving her a nose. I’ll work on my pronunciation of sweet potato.

We learned three phrases to use in greeting the Korean soldiers when they came to the USO and used them repeatedly this week. I would make the soldiers stand and wait until I could make the whole phrase come out of my mouth. Then they would repeat it in about one second and smile. I’m trying to say to them that they matter enough to me for me to learn how to speak to them in their own language.

           

     While we were on Camp Red Cloud, our first visit there, a car stopped; the window rolled down. Inside, a man identified himself as a former member of our church and expressed a desire to come back. He said he had gone through a messy divorce and needed to be back in church. We gave him the time and place of our meetings and a warm invitation to join us when he was ready. Standing at that spot at that time was not a coincidence.  

President and Sister Sonksen stopped by for a visit after interviewing missionaries near here. We were able to talk about this area and our role in strengthening it. We were not aware that there are Korean members who live in this area and attend at far distances. There was once a Korean ward in this area. This year two stakes in our mission will be combined to make one stake. The population of church members in Korea is shrinking. As we visited it was very clear how much they love each missionary. Their number one priority is their missionaries. Missionary work is the vehicle for strengthening the missionaries. Baptisms that result from the work of the missionaries are a sweet fruit but the increased measured of conversion in each missionary is the sweetest fruit for the mission president.

This is the work of the Lord, fulfilling the command to take the gospel to the whole world. He is doing His work. We simply follow His directions, watch His work unfold and marvel at His love for each of His children as we share His invitation to come or to come back. We are so thankful for this season to be part of His work here in our little corner of South Korea.

Words of an apostle

This week we were blessed to have Elder Bednar and his wife with us here in Korea. The notes I took on their counsel take up pages in my journal so I’ll give you the main ideas.

• ·         Don’t hesitate to stand and let the inspiration come in the moment.
• ·         As we keep our eye on the goal (Jesus Christ) we can do all things that He has asked us to do.
• ·         The way to put off the natural man is to get married and raise a family. Living in a family gives us a mirror into who we really are.
• ·         To inherit the Telestial Kingdom there are just a few things you cannot do; to inherit the Terrestrial Kingdom there are some things you need to do; but to inherit the Celestial Kingdom you need to be changed by the things you do.
• ·         Sometimes, because the Spirit is always there as a constant, quiet peace, we fail to recognize it.  Most important is to recognize and know when the Spirit leaves and turn around.
• ·         In response to how to counter the barrage of anti-Mormon literature some missionaries read after they return from their mission, Elder Bednar counseled to give equal time to Book of Mormon study.
• ·         Elder Bednar shared his pattern of reading the Book of Mormon start to finish searching for the answer to one question.
• ·         He reinforced the reason to learn English is because English is the language of the restoration.
• ·         Our purpose is to find, teach, and baptized but the measure of our success is not in the choices of those to whom we seek to share.
• ·         Elder Bednar told the missionaries that there is no such thing as sacrifice because all we have is the Lord’s. He said that we can make an offering to the Lord and used as an example the senior sisters who were separated from their grandchildren.
• ·         Elder Bednar counseled, “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.”
• ·         He referred to the repeated counsel from the apostles on the subject of Sabbath Day observance. He said the reminders will not go away until they are heeded. It is NOT your day. It is the Lord’s Day. What we do on that day reflects what we think of our Savior. He was very direct in counseling NOT to study on Sunday which is the norm in Korean culture.

To illustrate he understands academic pressures to succeed he shared a story of his graduate school experience. Of four students accepted into the elite program at a very prestigious university he was the only one with a wife, two children, and a calling to teach early morning seminary. The other four did nothing but study and do research. At the end of the program, only one student completed the program. His success he attributed to the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord to bless those who choose Him first. He left an apostolic blessing upon those who would heed his warning and his sure witness that this is the Lord’s church directed by Jesus Christ.

On the train ride home I gave my seat on a busy train to an older grandma and she was so happy that she took both of her hands in hers and hugged them. That's as close as Koreans get to hugging; they usually don't touch. She had such a big smile and talked to me in Korean. My understanding of her Korean was zero! So, I pulled out my one ace and that is my phone with pictures of Snowbird and our trip to Capitol Reef. I tell them that this is what Utah looks like and then point out the daughters, son, granddaughters and grandsons in the pictures. They are amazed to see one of our big family pictures at Snowbird.

One of my favorite grandmothers was in the park one day and she wanted to tell me something about two. She was counting and showed two fingers, her thumb and index finger in an L-shape. On the next loop of the park there were two friends sitting with her and it looked like she was pouring them something to drink and they were having a little tea party together. Then she motioned me to join them. She had boiled some very small sweet potatoes and they were peeling them with their fingers and eating them. They were a little warm and she wanted me to eat one, too. I patiently peeled a potato and enjoyed eating it with them. I tried to say delicious in Korean but I’m not sure she understood. She just wanted me to eat another one and then she insisted I have Wayne join us and he sat and ate, too. When she left she insisted I take the rest of the uneaten potatoes. 

On Saturday we headed for Soyosan Mt. with most of Seoul from the number of people who exited the train and were everywhere on the mountain. There was a flower festival there and the Fall leaves were ablaze in color, a delight to the eye. We decided to try the right fork today to see something new. It looked to be the steep ascent to the summit but we enjoyed the view and put one foot in front of the other. As we crossed the stream we saw three soldiers sitting on a rock resting. Wayne recognized one of our soldiers, Austin. Some of the sergeants wanted to hike so they brought the soldiers with them and they were enjoying a bit of freedom from the confines of the base. I didn’t push to reach the summit but Wayne reached the top and took pictures of our apartment complex from the top. Now he has bragging rights as he talks to soldiers who make this ascent regularly.

Stories

As I listened to the soldiers sharing stories with one another I thought you might be interested in some of their chatter. The cavalry drive tanks but they have the insignia of a horse on their uniform. These tanks seem to have as much a mind of their own as a horse. Some of them randomly catch fire. While that would terrify me, the soldiers laugh at their equipment. There is flame retardant that automatically deploys when a fire is detected. All they have to do is remember to close their eyes and cover their mouth and nose for about ten seconds until everything is “good.” They were laughing about one tank fire that happened spontaneously in the middle of a field. The soldiers evacuated the tank, did a count, and discovered the driver was still inside. When they found him, he was asleep. He was in his own compartment and totally missed all the excitement. Mule skinners no longer have mules to transport supplies. They move troops, equipment, and supplies by helicopter, but they still call themselves mule skinners.

While riding the train, I visited with a nun who studied business at the University of Oregon. Her parents were practicing Buddhists and she was raised going weekly to pray at a Buddhist temple. When I asked about Buddhists retreating to the mountains for safety she corrected me. She said that their faith is focused inward. They pray and focus on their own spiritual well-being so they need to be separated from others who are a distraction. She is part of a convent of nuns who also live separated with the exception that they care for old people as a way to support themselves. Her role for six-months is to pray. At the same time she was headed to a farm owned by the nuns to help with the harvest. I didn’t try to make sense of that one. She said she would call me in February when her time of prayers was finished. She was delightful so I hope to meet her again.

Whether we are with the soldiers, the Koreans, or the Africans, there is always something new to learn, an unexpected way to reach out and serve. This week much of our service was being a caring listener.