Apostles and Prophets and Medical Emergencies

We have been unbelievably busy these past 10 days.  For those who are so faithful about reading our blog on Monday,  apologies for getting behind this week.  To say the least, we do have our priorities straight! :)

We interviewed the other half of the mission this week and in the middle of the week we had a visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder David A. Bednar.  Since he could only be in Seoul for a short period, we combined the two Seoul missions for a three hour conference.  To see nearly 250 missionaries and church leaders all together absolutely mesmerized, leaning forward, eyes fixed for those three hours was amazing.  The missionaries in our mission have many friends in the Seoul Mission and as they came together beforehand, they had a grand visitation.  Sitting upstairs in the building while they gathered in the courtyard below was like listening the growing drone of a huge hive of bees!

One of the elders in our mission has a twin brother serving in the Seoul Mission.  If the one didn't have glasses on you'd never know who was who...  (Sister Turner knew immediately! :)

Terri likes her opportunities to hang with the sisters.  She's always taking pictures for the memory books.  They are pretty entertaining!

We worked hard to arrange a picture with Elder Bednar.  We didn't know if we'd have time, but in case we did, we had some help checking the lighting, the chair set up, etc. With Sister Turner are the zone leaders from two zones and a district leader and his companion.

Elder and Sister Bednar arrived with the Asia North Area President, Elder Whiting and his wife, his counselor from Korea, Elder Choi and his wife about 15 minutes before the meeting started.  President and Sister Sonksen, Sister Turner and I met with them for a few minutes to discuss the personality of our missionaries, their challenges, and what they might be expecting today.  We then went up into the chapel where we met.  In case we could get a picture in the chapel, we had the Seoul missionaries sit on one side and the Seoul South missionaries sit on the other.  As Elder Bednar entered they all respectfully stood.  Elder Bednar and his group quickly sat on the front row and the missionaries all stood or sat in a way to try to get everyone in the picture.  I do wish it could have been better, but with the time constraints, this was the best we could do.

As was said earlier, the missionaries were on the front of their seats, eyes wide and very engaged in all his discussion.  He didn't lecture for three hours, he asked questions for two hours and let them share their feelings.  He had forwarded four articles from past general conferences and other speeches he had given for them to prepare for this meeting.  He asked them about their feelings, their learnings, their personal revelations on the subjects.  It was a mix of humor and very deep, heart-felt discussion. At times it was just him having a conversation with one of the missionaries while the rest of us listened.  For the final hour he asked if the missionaries had questions.  Of course they did!  They were respectful and appropriate questions about how they could do better personally and be faithful as missionaries and for the rest of their lives.  It was quite amazing. 

He had to leave immediately after for an interview so there wasn't socializing time, but the missionaries filed out quietly and returned to their work areas across the two missions.  The emails I have received since the meeting have been full of excitement for the things they learned and felt.

Terri says it was almost like Christmas having all the children home and in one place.  It is such a wonderful thing to be a part of their lives. 

That evening we were invited to attend a dinner with the church leaders from around the Seoul area with Elder and Sister Bednar in attendance.  Again, he was very sociable and warm.  At the end he pronounced an apostolic blessing on the sisters in the room that moved the sisters to tears.  We had the pleasure of another picture with him. For those that don't recognize him, he has the beautiful blue tie on the front row.

 

Also on Saturday we had the first true medical emergency within our mission.  A wonderful retired man and his wife who have served in our mission for about four months.  While taking a cultural tour the elder suffered a stroke.  Gratefully, there were American military medics close by who gave him immediate care and then helivacuated him to a university hospital in Suwon.  Terri and I hurried to the hospital to be with the sister. He was given a priesthood blessing at the time of the event and again in the emergency room.  Gratefully, two sweet sister missionaries hurried to the hospital to help with translation service since neither of the senior couple speak the language.  He had the normal challenges of movement on one side of his body and the slurred, even incoherent speech.  As we left a few hours later he could fully move his arms and legs, but his speech was challenged.
The next day we visited him again in the hospital and his language had improved immensely and he could more easily communicate.  So many tender mercies and miracles were witnessed over the weekend.  As we write this, he's been moved into a private room from ICU and is starting to really get annoyed with not being able to get out of the hospital!  They will return home to the U S when he can travel for full rehabilitation.  They will be sorely missed.

We also took Sister Daley to the airport today to return home.  Due to unforeseen issues, she finished her mission a few weeks early.  It was a treat to have her in our home before taking her to the airport.  The one on one time is so fun compared to the large mass departures we have about every six weeks.

As per normal we continue to see entertaining and interesting sites on the road.  We spend so much time in the car every day, we can't help but see interesting things.  The missionaries see these every day as they walk..  They become so common place it's hard to notice them after a while!  Here's one of my favorites.  It's hard to see, but it says, "Drive Through Coffee and Sandwich" in English and the arrow points to the entrance of a car wash!

Motorcycles are very interesting.  These drivers are absolutely insane!  There are no traffic rules regulating their operations.  If they do, they are ignored or equally insane as the drivers.

This guy has his GPS on his bike which he operates while smoking a cigarette or talking on the phone.  If you have a missionary who served in Korea living near you, ask about the motorcycle guys.  What if McDonalds also delivered in the states!  We've seen KFC, Burger King, Dominoes, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut delivery motorcycles.

This vehicle looked a little out of place....

They do some pretty cool artwork on their vehicles.  There was no reference for what this was about.

We really enjoy the statues and artwork all around the Seoul area. Much of it in the area in which we live are extra life size statues of Olympic athletes, but we really liked this guy sitting on the rail.  As you might guess, we are not in Indiana any more Dorothy.

Finally, Terri found this in the basement of one of the buildings we were in. She likes to explore the buildings (as some of them are quite old) and find what's behind the closed doors (you never know what treasures you'll find, or adventures you'll have).  She's a natural!  She can make noise like any of the grandkids....

Well, it's been a busy week. We joke that we've already have several years worth of experiences in four months.  I think you can get a sense from the blog all we have going on!  I'm keeping some interesting statistics about things like how many health issues we've had reported to us, how many trips to the airport, how many blessings I've given, how many different wards we've attended and much more.  It'll be fun to share those at the end of our three years.
We truly love the Lord.  We've been lifted by an apostle as well as all the missionaries and local leaders and by the Lord himself as we've handled each day.  After next week's transfers we will have turned over half the mission in less than five months.  We have so many missionaries that are anxious to serve.  We have never loved so many great people at the same time!  Until the next time....