New Year's Eve Work and Celebration

We didn't want to go so long between posts, if we could help it!  There are lots of pictures today primarily because we were with so many missionaries this week.  Over the next week there will be more.  We need to get more pictures of missionaries! This week was primarily about catching up from the busyness of the past weeks and planning for the crazy schedule for the next few weeks.

Terri and I attended a middle and high school graduation ceremony at a school set up for children of North Korea refugees.  Unfortunately, the pictures probably won't be available for a day or two.  We will add them next week.

We did have a nice lunch with a man named Duke Kim (김도균) and his wife this week along with Elder and Sister Robinson.  He attends church with us in Songpa.  Duke is a member of the Korea Olympic Committee and committees for international competition including the ASEAN games and World Cup, etc.  He is an incredible fellow.  The Robinsons are the public affairs couple helping with communications here in Korea.  We learned so much during these few minutes together.

It was a true Korean meal which we don't get very often.  Most restaurants are more Chinese fare.  This was quite good.  Korean food has been greatly influenced by the strong spices of China, Japan, etc.  Everything is pretty red because of the hot pepper powder and past used.  We happen to really like it spicy.  Asia is where the spice variety is, sorry Europe and the Americas.

The real activity for the week was New Year's Eve. Two zones were joining together to sing carols (I know, it's after Christmas, but very natural to do here) and to do what is called sticker boarding.  We have mentioned sticker boarding before.  We hold up a sign that has a question or several on it and people place stickers on the board next to the question of greatest interest to them.  We did this outside of a large mall at a busy subway station.  There were lots of individuals and families walking through the area. 

We asked the question of which of the following questions do you want to know the answer to?
Where did I come from? What is the purpose of life?  Where do I go after this life?  The most common question of interest was "Where do I go after this life?"  It led to a number of very good discussions.  We also handed out some 200+ pamphlets on the Plan of Salvation which were well received.  We had individuals of all ages wanting to put a sticker on the boards.
Here are some random pictures of all of us involved.  There were about 40 of us busy in the work.

Here are more random pictures of just your missionaries who were involved in this activity.

We left the mall and headed to the local church where the stake had invited all the missionaries and their friends, those investigating the church, those who joined the church in the last year in this area and local leaders to a special program and dinner.  The missionaries performed skits, sang songs, and performed in other ways to entertain the crowds.  It was a fun evening of laughter.  We had a much better turnout for the New Years Eve event than we expected. Here are some random pictures of the participants.  Some of the productions were a little goofy, but very entertaining.

 A Santa with an Italian heritage.  He did terrific...

 He's pretending he's on the subway, he's not going to hit her!

 Imagine three large rooms with tables covered with food!  The Relief Society sisters of the stake prepared a meal that was targeted very much to the foreign missionaries.  It had a Mexican flair to it that was very unique to the Koreans.  Terri took the time to patiently teach them how to roll a tortilla into a burrito you can eat with your hands.  The missionaries were in heaven.  There was so much food!  Add to that some salad, smoked salmon sushi, nuts, fruits, several large cakes, etc. and you find the missionaries in heaven for the evening.

On top of that, they had provided a gift for each missionary and, yes those are Krispy Kreme donuts for every companionship.  Terri and I ate ours for dessert and breakfast at home.  They were just like the ones you get in the states!  They were awesome!!
 The church members truly gave a great gift to our missionaries.  It was fun to watch the interactions and the joy.  This is a hard time of year for many  missionaries, being away from families and all.  They were given the kind of attention they needed.  Here are a few more random pictures of the group with us this evening.

 Yes, they all eat well with chopsticks.  At first many think it's a sort of diet strategy, but they quickly get the hang of it and have no trouble eating!

 This is a good picture of some diversity with Koreans, Philippino, Polynesian and American.

 They look like very group of clean cut, happy young men at home... These guys know how to eat!

 The kind group that worked so hard to feed these young people.

 Yes, some are more angelic than others, but we love them all equally!

 We are having a grand time with these fine missionaries.  They are the crème de la crème.  They make us laugh, they make us cry and they make us hopeful for the future of this world.  Thank you to the parents and all those who helped raise such fine young people!