The cycle begins again

We have once again gone through the emotional roller coaster of saying goodbye and hello. Things are moving all together too quickly!  It seems like our children are born, grow up and move on in such a short time!

We had more great learnings shared as they had their final interview before getting on the airplane to their own families:

• I have Christ's name on my heart and feel like I see others like he sees them
• i have learned charity, humility, and to serve and love as Jesus served and loved
• I just want to do good
• I have learned how to put the Lord's will first
• We are doing as Christ did, learning to do the will of the Father
• Like him, we work hard, are rejected, and still try to give our all
• Miracles come from our best efforts
• I wanted to change, I've been impacted by doing my best
• I think differently, I'm more encouraging
• I feel God's love for me
• I learned how to get answers to questions through studying the scriptures
• How I can get revelation
• I have learned how to set goals and start small and work up
• If I do the little things 100%, the big things fall into place.
• I can finish hard things!
• I have a deeper love for my mom and understand why she did some things
• How great is our message!
• I felt the desire to search more to learn
• Learned the importance of time, I've wasted so much.
• Not to judge by what I see
• Patience with myself and to avoid pride
• I thought I had to be good or I'd quit
• I feel more loving, appreciative
• I can talk to others - I've learned some social skills
• Purpose of commandments
• My relationship with God.
• Let it go, it's not my will
• Learned much more than I expected
• Love others, praying for charity
• Following the spirit
• submitting my will to God and be thankful
• self reliance
• More decisive, I can be direct when needed
• Less critical of others
• Appreciate my family more, especially my parents

We had a nice evening meal before the departures of the missionaries followed by a spiritual feast and an evening of pictures.

 They are all so worn out from two years of diligent efforts!

 Going home to the Philippines

 Home in Salt Lake City

 Home in Ohio

 Home to Utah

 Home to Utah

 Home in Southern South Korea

 We love when the families come to pick up the missionaries.

 Sometimes we need help preparing for a picture

 In this case, grandmother, mother, sister, and cousin were required to get this man home!

We love it when our children come home for a visit after completing their work. Thank you for blessing our lives!

We had a wonderful evening welcoming our new missionaries. They arrived 24 hours later than anticipated.  Due to mechanical issues they were delayed in the states and had to get up at 1:30 

AM two days in a row.  They were tired, but they were in good spirits!

 The next day with their trainers

 From Texas (she comes from a Korean family)

 From Wyoming

 From Idaho

 From southern South Korea

 From the Philippines

Over the weekend we had two wonderful experiences with the work we are sent here to accomplish: Invite others to come unto Christ.

This baptism was in a tiny little branch in the country.

 This baptism was in the English speaking branch near the Air Force base in the southern part of our mission.  He gave up so much to make this commitment!

We had a great lunch with those who achieved their language certification goals. It's a fun lunch for them to each an old fashioned summer barbecue.

One of our favorite things to do is meet with any group of missionaries.  This week we had the Mission Leadership Council we have once every six weeks. The Assistants to the President, Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders come together to learn more about their roles as leaders.  This meeting happened to be possibly the most spiritual of all MLCs we've had during our tenure here.

You may not be able to tell by the smiles on their faces, but they were serious in training and learning.  We had some wonderful musical numbers to enhance the spirit.

 We do allow them to eat once in a while in such a long day.  They were excited for Burger King!

 They're great leaders, but they still can have some good fun!

The president officially became an old man this past week reaching the big 6-0.  We love it when the missionaries say we met some old people.  When we ask how old they were, they normally say somewhere near 60.  We had one elder look at us and knowing his answer would get our attention said '80'!  He wasn't going to say anything that might make us nervous!  This was during our evening dinner with the departing missionaries.

Another fun video clip we caught on the subway.  You'd never guess, but it was a SPAM commercial.  We had quite a chuckle watching it and thought you might enjoy it.

Finally, we caught a picture at a liposuction clinic near one of our meeting places. This guys was trying to get out of the building!

 

We start up with interviews again and the next post will include more fun pictures.  Time is racing and it seems like we start a new month and it is nearly over.  Can you believe Christmas was nearly a month ago?!  We love what we're doing! Thanks for your support.

The Year is Well Started

We hope you  had a great New Year celebration.  There is a Korean saying "To start is to be half finished".  That is a scary thing for us because at the half way mark of 2019 we will be flying back to the States.  We don't like the year to be 'half finished" already!

We learned in December, and it has now been announced, that our mission boundaries will be adjusted at the time of our departure.  Two of the zones and stakes in our mission will be moved to the Seoul Mission and three stakes and the attached zones in the Daejeon Mission will be moved to our mission.  Over the next six months we will be preparing missionaries to be joined with President and Sister Taylor in the Seoul Mission and preparing to receive missionaries from Daejeon for the new mission president in Seoul South Mission. 

Since Christmas we have been busy doing interviews and attending District Councils across the mission.  We do love these activities.  Because our next zone conferences will be pushed back a little to be on the Lunar New Year, we will quickly turn around after transfers this next week and start interviews again.  We've asked them all to consider important personal goals to accomplish by about the 4th of February.  It will be good to follow up on those goals.

We normally conduct the interviews with the office staff (office elders, Assistants, Office Couple) last, but felt we'd move them up a bit and do two districts together.  Because of fewer days to conduct interviews due to Christmas, we combined these two districts together and didn't do lunch or District Council.  We'll do that during interviews next transfer.

Supply Manager (he received a gift at Christmas calling him the Manager of the Universe), and the Mission Recorder.  Wow do they do good things to keep the mission running!

 The Assistants to the President do so much for both the logistical and the spiritual needs of the mission.  While doing so much training at every meeting, they hold and conducting exchanges with zone leaders, and are still able to keep a productive area equal to any set of missionaries!

 President Turner at one time felt like the 'big guy' of the mission, but these elders coming seem to get taller and taller! 

 This wonderful couple goes home next month.  They do so much to make sure your missionaries live in clean, well functioning apartments.  They hold the missionaries accountable through their inspections.  At the same time they help those the missionaries are teaching or those who are recent converts begin thinking about Family History and preparing to attend the temple.

This wonderful couple really keep the mission functioning.  The rest of us would be lost without the financial care of the mission and all the records we have to keep.  Though they speak no Korean, they function at an exceptional capacity.

 Someone got new gloves for Christmas and is quite happy!

 The missionaries in the Incheon District were so kind as to purchase this elder a birthday cake to celebrate during our District Council.  This was after they ate the Mission's unofficial meal of NaeNae Chicken!

They could still get serious and have a good meeting.  It was fun to be with and share the day with them.

We had another full day in Shinpung with this District.  Lunch was the first Penini sandwich we've had in Korea!

 We then met with the Icheon/Bundang District in the little town of Icheon.  It's considered country, but there are still over a million people who live in the area.  This area covers about 30-40 percent of our mission.  Very country!

 Lunch here was another missionary favorite: Pizza School.  For roughly $7 a missionary can have their own pizza. You have to like sweet potatoes and corn on your pizzas, but it fits well in the missionary budget.  They sang a fun song to their district leader which we recorded, but it was too big to fit on the blog...

The final district for Yeongdeungpo and Bucheon shared a wonderful meal of the Military Stew we've discussed before.  We ate at one of our favorite places near the building at Yeongdeungpo.  We seldom need to have a meal later in the day because we feel filled up well into the evening...

A thoughtful mother of one of the missionaries sent a box full of neck gators for all our missionaries.  The winter was so cold last year, those who remember that were especially excited to get these.  We have to wonder if they all know how to wear them correctly!!!

 After we passed them out, we asked missionaries to take pictures in their district councils and send them to us.  These are the ones we've received so far.  Undirected and unaware of what others have done, it is clear they all are cut from a similar mold...Some seem more 'into it' than others!

Occasionally, a parent will want to do something special for their missionary and fun things show up at the mission home.  A daughter getting flowers from mom and dad!  They even sent extras for us!

Of course, we remember our purpose for coming here.  Some of those who find joy and peace in the gospel of Jesus Christ are not of Korea, but are here working or might even be refugees or students.  The message is for all of God's children whether they live in their home town or somewhere far away!

One of the things we encourage our missionaries to do at the end of each day is to contemplate the things they accomplished during the day and begin making personal plans for what they need to accomplish the next day.  We call this reflection time.  Most missionaries set an alarm or hold time at 9:50 -10:00 PM.  They can consider all they have done during the day.  One group of missionaries living in the same house share with each other the miracles of the day and the things that brought them joy.  With the colder weather, they fill the bathtub and soak their feet.  Great for sharing and for bonding!  We approve.

Well, another group comes in this week and another group departs having completed the mission they have been called to serve.  Many tears and happy times in the week ahead.  We look forward to sharing.  Thank you for all you do and for the many prayers sent heavenward on behalf of the missionaries and for us and our family back home.  We can feel the sustaining influence in our lives.