Happy Thanksgiving

We couldn't be happier being in Korea right now, even though we miss one of the truly big holidays in the US.  However, we know this small offering of our time is but a demonstration of our gratitude of the truly many blessings Terri and I have received.  Our granddaughter is thankful we are serving.  She changed the background on her phone showing g'ma and g'pa in front of the world map in the MTC.

She then said, when asked what she wanted for Christmas, "I want my grandma and grandpa home for Christmas!"  We will have a great Christmas with all the family in 2019.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Wednesday evening.  We had the four senior couples serving in our mission at our home to celebrate and to say farewell to a wonderful couple returning to the US.  We are grateful for the miracle of his healing.  We had a great dinner and evening together.  We then said goodbye at the airport.  We look forward to catching up with them in the future.

It would take you a while to realize how serious Elder Bastian's situation was four weeks ago.  His rehabilitation has been wonderful.  Sister Bastian deserves the Mother Teresa award for her patient care and humble service literally living in the hospital for several weeks by his side on nothing more than a bench.  Their love is reflective of what eternal families are all about.

Terri and I had the opportunity to meet some of our missionaries at the temple this week.  Because of our trip to the airport we were unable to attend, but couldn't miss the opportunity to see them and take a few pictures.  We didn't get them all, but we certainly tried to get all we could.  It's their preparation day and as soon as they leave the temple they are doing their 'preparation' day activities.

Sister Turner and I took the opportunity to spend an evening and part of the next day with some missionaries in the south part of the mission.  Terri was with Sister Capener from Chicago and Sister Canete from the Philippines.  I was with Elder Carter from Utah and Elder de la Bruere from Iowa.  We did an evening of proselyting and a morning of study time with them.  We stayed in a hotel which is an experience best not shared.  Not one of our better places to visit...
Our time with the missionaries truly gave us a better perspective of their daily life. 

The Anyang Stake held a 'cultural evening' event including a few of our missionaries.  I'm sure their parents will get pictures and emails sharing their experiences.  It was loads of fun.  Our funnest experiences were watching the missionaries sing and perform.  Their is certainly a lot of talent and a few comic personalities.

On Sunday we attended another special event called 'Happy Things' celebrating the happy and joyous message of the gospel the missionaries share.  Several of the missionaries spoke and then performed.  Given the more sacred nature of the event no pictures were taken during the performances, but we can tell you our hearts were moved by the powerful talent of a different group of missionaries from the night before.  The piano, the violin, the guitar, and the singing abilities were clearly on display.  This entire group sang two songs with little practice that truly moved the audience including us.  Another professional choir performed later which was probably better, but the raw talent of these missionaries was awe inspiring.

Of course, when Terri gets with a few of the young ladies with a camera, you never know what you'll come up with.  They love Sister Turner!  Someone asked one of the sister missionaries why everyone loved Sister Turner so much...

On Sunday we attended another ward we hadn't attended in the past.  We got another picture with Sister Holste and Sister Zippro both from Utah.  The selfie is definitely alive in our mission!

On the side of interesting things seen since the last blog, first, we had snow.  Large fluffy flakes at first followed by smaller, wetter flakes and eventually turning to just rain.  The roads were warm enough it wasn't a problem, but there was the reminder of what season we are entering.  We drive through a lot of mountains and hills with lots of trees Mother Nature decorated for Christmas.

 On another front, we passed an area selling lots of outdoor clothing including mountain and trekking gear.  This dude sits atop a building well decorated with winter clothes...

Of course there is always the window shopping fish that would frighten any wandering child...

 And there is also the newest coffee outlet with a name that I'm sure someone was paid handsomely for creating.  (Terri wanted to take this one for Jake and his 'stache :)  nothing like a good mustache roaster!)  Just think our missionaries see these creative things every day.  They will return and wonder how they can make it work in their home town.

The thing I want to close on that opens the Christmas season is a short video that truly moves the soul.  I'm sure many of you have already seen it, but if not, be sure to take the three minutes to see this and then consider joining the daily activities that can help us all "Light the World."
With Love,
Roger and Terri

Calmer Week

As you can see from this photo the weather is cooling.  The dogs are now in heavy down jackets, the leaves are pretty much done falling.  Many folks are done with raising children so they now find another living animal to pamper. 
While Terri I were waiting for pictures to be printed we found a pet store.  They actually had snails for sale with the hamsters, mice, hedgehogs and birds!  I didn't take a picture, but I was surprised.  That's the pet for me and the sedate life style I prefer...

Here's another occupation that would be fun.  This little lady, like others has a motorized cart that putts around the streets selling health drinks, cold coffee, yogurt drinks, etc. With the lack of little neighborhoods for the ice cream man, she takes it to the various business keepers.

We periodically attempt to attend district meetings with 10 or 12 missionaries to get a sense for the training they are doing for each other.  It starts in our Missionary Leadership Council, is shared in the zone meetings with all missionaries and there are follow up training discussions in the district meetings.  Terri was more interested (rightfully so) in the happiness of the missionaries while I'm always wondering what they are teaching and learning.  I'm the stick in the mud.  She likes to artfully pose (strategically place as she calls it) the missionaries.

The sisters seem to enjoy it. 

The elders, on the other hand, are more like me, a little more reserved.

Someone donated some tangerines to the cause and we had a treat after the meeting.  Of course, there had to be additional poses imposed here!

They are good sports and they like a little distraction...
We drove to another area to deliver goods to missionaries and had a walk in the town with a few sisters.  This little area has some small art sculptures of families in the old days.  Sorry it is so dark.
We have a sister from Thailand and a sister from Missouri.  They are working so well together!  The poor sister from Thailand has never faced temperatures this low and we're still in the 40's most of the time!  I hope we have a mild winter for her sake as well as the missionaries from the Philippines!

While reading the weekly emails from the missionaries I found a few items that might be truly inspirational to any who reads them:

Wonderful message about setting goals and keeping them!!!   Yesterday is our fast and testimony Sunday. I am very grateful for that opportunity that I can again ask Heavenly Father's help to be a better missionary. Before my mission, I have already set a goal that I will always share my testimony every first Sunday of the month. One thing I have realized and learned yesterday is that because I have set a goal it pushes me to do it no matter what. I was so nervous and scared to get up and share my testimony in Korean. But then, I still did it because I don't want to break the goal that I have set. I walked up, started crying (feeling nervous) and shared my testimony about Heavenly Father and His plan. I also express my love and thanks for all the members in our ward because I have received warm clothes and accessories and boots from them this week. I also did lots of practice lessons with the members. I told them that I can feel Heavenly Father's love for me through them. After sacrament meeting, lots of members came to me and expressed their love for me. They even told me that I can always ask them questions to better learn and understand the language. One mother told me also that all the sisters in our ward are worried for me and are always praying for me.

We have a few who set goals and don't end their day until they achieve them.

Our missionaries face people who are less than subtle in their feelings about their religion and will seek our young missionaries with less than kind words.  However, they are very sweet in their responses:

We were standing on a crowded subway, saying hello to people around us. I noticed a man who got up and came to stand closer to us. He saw our name tags and our book of Mormons. Then he tried speaking English to us. He started with, " I Christian. You no." Then he drew an X in the air with his finger. I told him that we were also Christians. Then he proceeded to tell us that we were not. In Korean I politely told him that our beliefs were different. Once I realized we could speak Korean, he switched to some more detailed words in Korean. He continued for a good 15 minutes telling us what was "wrong" with our church, in front of all of the people on the subway. We tried to stay calm and state our beliefs and tell him why we were here. We know this message is true! We know it can bless his life and all the people in Korea. But he would not budge. He was very upset with us and told us some things that could have easily offended us, and our testimonies. But, the amazing thing is that they didn't! No matter how many times he told us to take off our name tags and throw away our Book of Mormons, we felt the spirit strong, testifying that our words were true. We cannot and will not change! No matter what he said. I am so thankful for the spirit testifying to us and for the chance I had to feel the love and strength of God as we testified. It was a moment that I will not forget. I am very thankful. I know this is true! God is mindful of us and our every situation. I also was able to feel the love of God for that man. Although he was not being very kind, or following Christ's example very well, I know that God still loves him and wants what is best for him. I know something good will come from this experience. Maybe someone else on the subway will have felt our testimonies and the Spirit testify.

Today we were able to be at baptism of a young lady who attended an English class taught by our four missionaries in that building.  She thought they were so nice so she started asking questions about their purpose in Korea.  She basically felt their answers were so filled with love she wanted to know more.  She's about 18 years of age.  The other 12 or so young women attending that church building took her in and they became fast friends. We had a great time together with her.  The young women sang to her, a missionary played his violin, and the spirit in the room was amazing.  Afterwards, as they love to do, they had a little get together and he played more music.

Afterwards, Terri had the opportunity posing the young missionaries again.  They are great sports!  They know we truly love them and want them to have some fun in this great work.

this picture reminded her of the book, "Ten Apples Up On Top". 

Finally, we drove by the venue this week of some of the Olympic events from 1988.  We only live a couple of miles away, but this is the closest we've been.  They could easily host another Olympics here given the care they give things.  Oh, wait, they're doing the winter events here in 2018!  We'll be here, but I don't believe we'll be involved!

This next week is the great Thanksgiving holiday in the US.  We won't have an official day here, but we will have a special day with a turkey on Wednesday.  We will be thinking of all our loved ones and friends and hope they have a wonderful holiday.  I don't need a holiday for me to remember how thankful I am for the rich blessings in my life.  However, having such a day gives us time to pause and truly reflect in the busyness of life!  We love you all and wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Incredible Two Weeks!

We have just completed by far the most intense two weeks of our mission.  The first week of November was all about preparing for the upcoming transfer and six weeks.  We started with our Missionary Leadership Council (MLC).  We had three of the five missionaries leaving this week in the meeting and we asked them to share their final words.  They were pretty incredible.

Here's the final words to me from one of our sisters.  I hope you can understand the depth of this message and the intensity of the love she has for this work:

Sometimes, being a missionary in Korea was just plain hard. I have thought a lot about what I have done over the past year and a half. It was so hard. I never thought that the time right before church, standing at the front doors of a church building, waiting for an investigator to come to church would be so stressful-more stressful than probably any other test than I have taken-but it was and it is. Our purpose as missionaries is to "invite people to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel..." However, there were definitely times where I felt like I was dragging my investigators to the gates of the celestial kingdom instead of just merely "inviting" them (it never worked by the way haha). It was hard watching the people that I love so much so often reject something that I hold so close to my heart. I wanted so bad for them to just taste of the happiness that the gospel has brought me. Some of the people that I taught were just not ready and that is okay. I know that someday, their hears will be softened and they will receive the gospel with joy and gladness! With the help of the Lord I have tracted, contacted, proselyted, knocked on doors and walked the streets of Korea for hours on end. But if this, all that I have done, all that I have gone through, was the price of discipleship that I had to pay, I would pay it again and again. Seventy times seven. Surely, the price that Christ paid was higher. Surely the pain he suffered was deeper. He saved me, and you, and everyone and He did it because He loves us more that anything else. More than the riches more than the I-Phones, more than the promotion at work or any other wordy thing that we sometimes let block our view of Him. Being a missionary is hard, but the price of discipleship was never cheap, nor was it ever meant to be. Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price so that all of our "hard things" wouldn't have to be nearly as hard. Isn't that a miracle? Isn't that the greatest blessing? "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.(Matthew 11:30)"

These are the hearts of the young men and young women we work with every day!  Can you understand why we love them so much and enjoy spending so much time with them?!

The very next day we had the follow up training meeting with the missionaries who came in five weeks ago.  They are amazing! They learn so much in such a short period.  They work from 6:30 AM until 10:30 PM striving to learn the language and learn the life of the missionary.  They have great attitudes.

On Thursday, we welcomed the departing missionaries for their last few hours in the country.  What a wonderful evening!

It's a night of signing President Turner's flag, writing in Sister Turner's and the missionaries' memory books and dinner made with love.  There's no store bought or ordered dinner here!  We have a quite testimony meeting before getting the group photo and heading off for the final night in country.

Sister Sutton from Wyoming,

Sister Blom from Long Island, NY

 Elder Steadman from the Ogden, UT area

 Elder Perkes from Hooper, UT

 and Elder Craven from Tremonton/Logan, UT.

It's only been 10 days since this evening, but it seems like forever ago.  We sent them on their way the next day to the bus stop.  They have two hours to contemplate their mission time and laugh and cry together.

Each area of our mission has an English program offered to help any who are interested.  They get a free opportunity to have some conversation with a foreigner.   We have a the same in our building.  We had several of the individuals leaving this time who were together at one time. It was fun to have this picture before they left. It's hard to see from the picture, but these five plus one other are on the banner above them at the entrance to our church/office/mission home.

Well, shortly after this group left we were off to the airport to pick up another group.  We didn't take the outgoing group to the airport because we may have delayed them in their departure.  It took us just over an hour to get to the airport, but over two hours coming home.

We truly love greeting these wide-eyed, high expectation filled new missionaries at the airport.  Unfortunately, it's been a very long day for them and they are worn out when we get to them.  We hug them all and then wisk them away to the vans to load up their luggage.  They then take the subway back to the mission home.  They have the chance to practice their language skills with the folks on the subway.  It's a very big eye-opening experience for all of them!

Imagine 18 new missionaries with two checked bags each, one or two carry-on bags!  We have two good vans to help us carry the bags!  I should say we 'had' two good vans.  On the way home, while waiting in traffic, two office elders were hit from behind by a mini bus, probably too busy on a phone to pay attention.  Gratefully, they were fine, but the van had to be drug away.  They unloaded all the bags so we could pick them up later.  Some of the new missionaries had to sleep in their travel clothes since their goods were in the van and we got back too late.

The next day we have the pleasure of providing them their new orientation and assign their trainers.  There is no better experience than going through that process; interviewing each of them and assigning someone who will be best to help them.  I can confirm it was divine guidance, the Holy Ghost's kind promptings are much appreciated here.  Any parents reading this should check with their son or daughter to see if they feel they have the right companion.  I'm amazed how they are doing!

When we finished on Saturday evening we were exhausted, but we had to get up Sunday and speak in a stake conference.  We are so grateful for good translators.  We got to see about one-third of our missionaries at the conference and got to hug them.  Some we had just sent off the day before to be with their new companions.  They still have jet lag, but they have bright smiles and happy attitudes.

  We have been doing weekly and sometimes daily training for nearly four months.  It was time to have our cylinders recharged!  We attended a Asia North Area Mission Presidents Seminar with eleven other mission presidents and wives from Korea, Japan, and Guam/Micronesia.  What a thrill it was to be with these wonderful individuals.  The area presidency taught, guided, inspired and lifted us for five days. 

We finally had the opportunity to be together in one place with all four of the Korea mission presidents and their wives.  We also had with us the member of the Area Presidency from Korea, Elder Choi and his wife.

Of course, the sisters were able to have a wonderful moment together and got a special photo-bomb from a bride to be!

 No matter where we go, there is always something to take a picture of. This one is outside a sushi restaurant, the cuddle fish were awaiting their opportunity...

Terri had a close up moment with a ray.  No photo shop here.  That truly looks like a smiley face!

I haven't said yet, but we attended the seminar in Fukuoka, Japan. Seven of the mission presidents are in Japan.  This was the place this time. Twice each year we attend these conferences.

We had a 'cultural' day where we visited Japan's famous pottery area.  Much of the origin of the pottery was from Korean artisans some 400 years ago 'invited' to Japan to ply their skills.  I had twenty minutes to try to create a master piece. Here are the two I came up with.  Imagine what I could have accomplished with a full hour...

Terri met a friend near the hotel and had a Kodak moment with him.  He was actually napping, but she had to wake him!

 

We found some other works of art.  This is a huge float carried in a parade by large men. There's a 1.5 KM race where this has to be carried. This is actually an 80% scale model of the original.  It was absolutely stunning. Here you get the perspective from both sides.

We came home exhausted on Friday, but thoroughly strengthened.  We used Saturday to catch up and prepare for Sunday where we had the opportunity to speak in church again.

We then had the opportunity to attend a Young Single Adult (YSA) branch which was amazing.  They also had two young men be baptized while we were there.  One was actually half Chinese and spent most of his life in China.  His English teacher had joined the church only a few months ago and shared the joy of the gospel with him.  He wanted to know more and was introduced to some of our missionaries.  There was so much joy and excitement at the meeting, it was incredible.

We had a number of random photo moments with our missionaries.  As you can see, they truly adore Sister Turner!  We can't tell you how much we enjoy being with them and them being a part of our lives!  I have never been with so many happy people in my life!

On the way home one of the elders pulled out Terri's selfie stick and pulled this photo in the car.   I promise, we were not moving at this moment! These are our two assistants, Elder Stapp and Elder Kim Injoong.

Finally for today, we have been driving by this guy for months and wanted to get his photo.  Normally we are moving too quickly.  Terri took this in the car.  It looks like a construction zone employee waving his light stick, but it's actually a dummy.  I guess if there's going to be an accident, this guy is not likely to bring a suit and won't be facing severe hospital challenges.

We are having fun still and love the people we meet.  We cry like sad parents when we see them go home, but we exclaim with joy when the new ones come.  We know we are losing so many great missionaries, how we love and appreciate them.   Then we see the new missionaries develop and perform miracles and mature and grow into the young men and young women we see depart.  Thank you to any parents who are reading this.  You have truly sent wonderful, well prepared, angels of truth to us.  Until next week!