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.
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!
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.
