Transfers, Arrivals, Departures, a Wedding, Baptisms and more...

We have gone through another one of those crazy weeks with all sorts of marvelous things happening.  We shed many tears saying goodbye to these missionaries.  Several had families pick them up which was great fun!

 Elder returning to Hickory, North Carolina

 Elder headed home to southern South Korea

 You have to be careful who you give the phone to when you want them to take pictures...

 Elder headed home to Manti, Utah (where Terri and I were married so long ago!)

 Elder headed home to Littleton, Colorado

 Elder returning to Vernal, Utah, he had classes in school from our eldest son.

 This poor elder had to travel alone because others' families came or had flights very much earlier in the day.  He's headed over the hill to catch the final bus ride.

This sister is headed home to Clayton, North Carolina.  Her sister on the left served a mission in Daejeon, South Korea three-four years ago.  What a great family vacation.

I always get comments from the departing missionaries about things they learned while serving their missions.  I thought I'd share these thoughts:
Well what did I learn on a mission? Well there is a lot. perhaps the most important thing is that I am prideful. I judge people on the streets, judge Korean and American culture, and so often I judge other missionaries for the mistakes they make. For struggling with talking to people, or whatever it is, yet I have different problems, and in many ways much more serious problems. It truly is a greater sin to not forgive... When working with others, love, positivity, kindness is almost always the better answer. Correction is sometimes needed but if it is not preceded with and followed up with love, it almost always fails. This does not mean we should accept imperfections, but it does mean that we should not get frustrated or resentful. And we certainly cannot judge the worth of that person. That leads me to maybe the second point, rationalizing sin dams our progress. It is, I think, one of the greatest sins. There is no situation in which disobedience is condone-able. Of course we all make mistakes and that does not mean we lose points in heaven, but rationalizing is at least minus 10 points. hahaha.
Well then what can we imperfect people do? Humbly submit. Make God's will what we desire. That is the example that Christ gave us. 100% submission to God's will. That is the goal of my mission, but more importantly the goal of my life (a goal, like most of my goals that I totally failed... hahaha) So as I go home I want to remember life without a smartphone, computer, etc. A life focused on obedience and sharing the gospel. I am excited for that. Excited to try to able what I have learned, to fail, to change, etc. Never rationalize, and always striving.

This reflects a very mature perspective and is not significantly different from what others have shared.  You can get a sense for the great caliber of young men and young women we serve with.

It's always fun to take missionaries with us to the airport to pick up the new missionaries.  They then ride the subway home and have a great experience talking to people.  We had one elder and one sister with us this trip.  This is in front of the 2018 Winter Olympic mascots.

We gained two new missionaries who are natives of South Korea.  The sister attended LDS Business College in Salt Lake City for a year, the elder worked for a year to earn money to serve.

You will notice in many of these pictures the native Koreans do not typically smile in pictures.  It's an unusual thing to see broad smiles that foreigners have.  Please understand, they have great smiles and they are quite a happy culture and society.  They just tend to be more sober in photographs.

Departures and new arrivals always mean transfers are in progress.  We give new companions to those who departing missionaries leave behind and new companions or trainers for the incoming missionaries.  We need new zone leaders, new district leaders, new sister training leaders, office staff, and assistants.  It's quite a brain teaser for the mission president. Think of it as Tetris with people!

This week Terri and I enjoyed a very rare opportunity.  One of the sweet young missionaries who returned home from our mission last fall was married.  We were invited to attend the temple with her and her wonderful husband.   It was wonderful to participate in some of the pictures. 

 The other young ladies in the picture are also all former missionaries in our mission.  They are truly wonderful.  It was fun to spend a few minutes catching up with them.

Terri got to create her own little pose on the rocks in front of the temple.  We adore these sisters.  The one in the back with the badge has been picked up by her family and is traveling before going home.

 

On our way home we stopped at a little place to get some Ho-dduk.  They deep fry the dough with the brown sugar and nuts in it.  One is a vegetable ho-dduk that has sweet potato noodles and other vegetables in it.  We shared it in the car on the drive home.  We were stopped at this point, I promise.

 The next day we attended the reception along with a number of other elders and sisters from our mission.  Some are still serving, but many are now at home.  They love to be together.  I don't think it's a good idea for the missionaries to attend these.  I think we might need to change that rule.

We attended another wonderful baptism this week.  He is an interesting story.  He has met four or more sets of missionaries in random places around Seoul over the past several years.  Usually he runs into them at different subway entrances or on busses.  He has a wonderful little family that will likely join him in the next little while.  These are some of the missionaries that have taught him.

I am still trying to get periodic exercise.  It is very difficult to run at 6 AM when it is 80 degrees and 90% humidity.  The heat index is already near 90 degrees at that time of the day.  Our diligent missionaries are faithfully working in it all day.  We can't say enough positive things about their work ethic and faithful desire to talk to people and to fulfill their missionary purpose. 
This is my view this morning during my run.  The humidity haze is pretty amazing.  You can see the exercise equipment lined up along the right side.  The older generation uses the equipment faithfully.  The number of people in the park this early in the morning is impressive.

We've had another wonderful week with our missionaries.  We love being here.  We are ready for summer to be over, but as soon as we say that, we'll be wishing it were warmer.  We are just happy to be here sharing experiences with so many marvelous young people.  They keep us smiling and laughing.  We love their hugs!