We started this week meeting again with the missionaries who arrived in country five weeks ago. It's a follow up to see how their training is going and how their companionships are working out. They are all amazing. In such few weeks they develop amazing, powerful working relationships. They rely on each other and help each other power through difficult things. Of course, if there is a reason to celebrate, we also do that as well. We had some birthdays and wanted those recognized.
We then spent the week interviewing 41 more wonderful missionaries. There are serious moments, but there are also some moments where we can have some levity. Terri always provides a great treat for them.
We wish we had time to share something about everyone of these missionaries, but to say the least they are amazing. We try to take each picture with a painting of some sort in the background that reminds us of our purpose and true leader.
We purchased the traditional Korean Hanbok this week to wear for special occasions. We have special friends who helped us. Brother Jeong and Sister Kim will be the new mission president and wife in Busan Mission in July and they decided to acquire new Hanboks for their mission. The women especially make these outfits look nice!
Spring is the true treat of our lives right now, a special dessert with all we have going on. The colors are amazing and the city has planted flowers such that there is much to enjoy. We found this special place and the colors were so amazing we had to add one more flower to decorate...
Food is a big deal, as we've said before, but sometimes 'comfort food' means a lot to us. Occasionally, we like to sit down and have some old fashioned soup and grilled cheese!
To show our impressive dexterity with chopsticks, we had to add a little sweet and sour pork. They provide special aprons for the foreigners... Not really, we ate some other things that splash a bit and they have the aprons to protect the clothes.
While traveling this week, we caught a picture of what is pretty common here, the true spoiling of the pets. This little pup was yapping all the way down the road. It was fun to listen to her scold this little dog.
The first counselor in the mission presidency will be moving to Busan as the mission president. Before he leaves we wanted to get a presidency picture. These are two great men who have been a tremendous help in the affairs of the mission and in helping me carefully navigate the local culture and feelings of the members. I truly love both of these men and Terri and I have enjoyed getting to know them and their families a bit.
This weekend, we had the opportunity to work closely with Elder Yamashita of the Seventy in reorganizing the Seoul Military Serviceman's District. We met together to call a new district president and set apart him and his counselors. This is one very humble man. We get to have him back in about ten days for a mission tour. Elder Yamashita is the first counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency. He is a great teacher.
Finally, this morning while studying we heard the loud rumble of military jets flying across the sky. A group of nine jet fighters flew across the skies of Seoul. This is considered Military Foundation Day in North Korea. As it says in Wikipedia, "Kim Il-Sung moved date from 8 February to the date of establishment of his guerilla army in 1932, considered the predecessor of the
Korean People's Army." We believe the US/Korean forces wanted to demonstrate they are paying attention to everything going on north of the border. No one locally feels any discomfort. We took this video from the roof of our building.
This next week will be a wild one. We've had two great mission activities with running and kickball already this week. (Pictures to follow soon. Terri had a delightful time doing some slo motion videoing. Be aquiver with anticipation :) We will also have transfers and new missionaries. We had one new missionary join us this week. he was transferred from the Canada Vancouver B.C. Mission. We are excited to have Elder Han with us.
We hope your spring is as beautiful and sunny as ours. Know of our love and appreciation to all of you, especially the parents of these fine young missionaries. We are so richly blessed. These youth are amazingly awesome!
