We want to start this week's blog off with a great comment from one of our sister missionaries. We hope you find the light and joy in it she shared:
For some reason, I've been thinking about when I was set
apart as a missionary this past week. I honestly can't remember much at all
from my blessing--only two things, and one of them was about my smile--my Stake
President counseled me to smile and said others would be blessed by it and that
it was really important for me to smile. We had just left our house again after
breaking our fast yesterday and we sat down at a bus stop. This woman was
walking past and I remembered my setting apart and looked up and flashed a huge
smile at her--AND SHE STOPPED. She walked back a step and looked at my name tag
and said "예수 그리스도?! (Jesus Christ?)" Then she said in Korean, "I see you have
a book. Is that God's word? How is it different from the Bible?" President
Turner, we walked to the Church and met with her right then. She said she is
looking for a way to live with Heavenly Father. I am so insufficient in so many
ways but if I know anything, it's the answer to her question--we told her that
we absolutely can tell her how to live with Heavenly Father! It was a huge
miracle after fasting and seeking the spirit.
We then moved on to the Seoul South Zone at the Noryangjin ward building. It was another great conference with training by all the zone leaders. They are so mature... and then again,
We then finished up with the Anyang zone conference. I wasn't as diligent with pictures here and only caught the group photos. Only twelve members of this zone, but they carry an amazing spirit and determination.
We didn't give ourselves a rest after the three fast-paced busy days of conferences but went right into interviews. The first zone was the Suwon zone and we did it by districts. While the president was interviewing one on one, Sister Turner was with the district talking about companion relations. We know that to be most effective we really have to be one as companions. She had them play a game where she had a list of several dozen questions. Sister Turner would ask the questions. If the companion didn't know something, such as favorite color, food, number of siblings, birthday, etc. their companion got to squirt them in the face with water. It was tons of fun!
These two had to leave before President Turner could get a picture, but they too played the game.
Of course, there were always the things that are unique for our experience which we love to share. These are things your sons and daughters may see, but don't have cameras with them or have not sent them.
This picture is of a work area where the building was taken down in a few days. I run this route once or twice a week. Between runs the building was completely razed. I took this so that I can measure how long it takes to put up a new building. They work so quickly here, it will be by the end of the year, I would expect. It's likely to be a multi-story apartment building of concrete.
Terri and I attended a reception recognizing the 56th year of a relationship between the Ivory Coast and the South Korean governments. It's the 57th year of independence for the Ivory Coast. It was an interesting evening. Our friend, a member of our ward here is the consul general for the embassy of Ivory Coast. he is a true gentleman.
Here's Terri filling time while President Turner is doing interviews. Badminton is a big game here, probably because it requires so little space compared to tennis. One of our missionaries was on the Korean National Team at one time. Everyone likes this game.
