First full week; New Missionaries; Departing missionaries

This three year experience is meant to be a marathon, carefully paced and properly hydrated.  Wow, this is not a pace I would have guessed!  Despite the pace, the blessings, the joys, the learnings are all incredible.  The young men and young women we work with every day are incredible.  The welcoming of new missionaries is a fun experience.  The farewell to departing missionaries is very painful!  We love them all and even those missionaries we've only known a few days have made a huge impact in our lives!

On Tuesday we met six great missionaries.  Five were fresh from the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and one had returned home for six weeks due to health reasons and was returning to continue his mission.  We pick up the luggage and take it to the mission home while the two mission assistants take them on the subway so they can have their first experience in the wonderful Korean culture and practice their language skills on those around them.  Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is a joyful experience, but talking to strangers is one of the most frightening experiences a young missionary can have.  Here's the picture of the fresh, yet tired missionaries at the airport:

On Wednesday the five new missionaries were assigned to their new companions or trainers.  It was a special experience for me to identify the right match and have them meet.
Sister Beyer was assigned to her trainer, Sister An.  When I got them together I would have thought they were relatives, even sisters!

 Sister Kim, a native of Korea was assigned to her trainer, Sister Shumway.  Another perfect match.  Only the Spirit could have made these connections!  We saw them together later in the week and they are very happy working together.

Our last sister is Sister Pak who has been called to serve in the California, Los Angeles Mission, but has to wait a few weeks here while her visa is being processed.  She has not been in the MTC yet, but came to our mission office from the Taejon area to start her mission.  She met her new companion, Sister Brooksby who started learning Korean on her own many years ago.  She has the responsibility of helping Sister Pak begin learning English while learning the missionary life style.  We'll be sad to see Sister Pak leave our mission when her visa is approved.

Elder Kang is a native Korean who speaks excellent English having attended international schools in Malaysia and Korea as well as BYU.  He was put in a companionship with Elder Heaton and Elder Choi. They will be a threesome until the next set of missionaries come to the mission in six weeks.

Elder Landgraf, from Hawaii was assigned to Elder Wilcox.  When I saw these two together I knew I had set up two to be good friends.  We expect all these companions to be together for 12 weeks, the period set to help complete critical training activities.

On Thursday evening we welcomed eighteen missionaries into our home in preparation for their return home at the end of 18 or 24 months.  We had a wonderful dinner, a testimony meeting, and sang the mission song per tradition in the stairwell.  They have left a profound impression on us.  They will now make an impression on their home wards and stakes.

Terri and I have driven several hundred miles already visiting various areas and have found that Korea is also the Land of the Tunnel.  We drove about five miles underground through three tunnels last evening!  With all the tall mountains around us, it is certainly  more efficient than moving the mountains.  The exciting thing was a huge cloud of black smoke we drove through on our way to a meeting in the evening.  A car was completely consumed by fire.  People drove by with hardly a glance.

We go to bed each day truly exhausted and arise each morning not fully rested, but still energized for the experiences we anticipate.  We actually ventured to Costco on our own on our preparation day.  It's amazing how many people with carts you can get in that store! 

We love being here and the time we have together!