Farewell and Hello in a single day, boy is it painful!

One of the joys of this mission is the new missionaries that come to our mission brining tremendous energy, fire, and desire.  This group is not different.  However, the hardest part of the mission is saying goodbye to any one of them.  We've said it many times, they are family and we adore them.  We liken it to letting our kids go off to college far away and not seeing them until term ends. In this case, when our term ends!
We said farewell to 13 amazing missionaries this week, sending them home to the Philippines, New Zealand,  Korea, the US, and one to her family serving a mission in Bulgaria. We are a diverse mission. We so enjoyed our final interviews, dinner, and special evening of sharing testimonies and experiences.  It is a most amazing day.  Here's to the recently departed:

 Home is in Korea

 Home is in New Zealand

 Home is in Utah

 Home is in California

 Home is in the Philippines

 Home is in New Hampshire

 Home is in Utah

 Home is currently in Bulgaria with parents

 Home is in Utah

 Home is in California

 Home is in California

 Home is in Korea

Home is in Colorado

Funny group.  How we will miss their gifts, talents, and abilities.

We also welcomed four wonderful missionaries.  Two from the Philippines and two from Korea. The Korean elder and sisters both had siblings who served in our mission earlier.  Their siblings were great missionaries and these two look every bit as strong with a great fire in them!

With their trainers and Assistants to the President, President and Sister Turner

We are so grateful for the gift to love these young people the Lord has given us!  We can't tell you enough how much we enjoy shaking hands and hugging them and just chatting with them.

Another sad things this week, we said farewell to our friends, President and Sister Sonksen who are finishing their missions as President and Wife of the Seoul Mission.  They have richly blessed our lives in the two years we have been together.  They started one year before us.  Since they are from a neighboring state in the US, we look forward to connecting with them when we return.

One of the joys of our work is serving side by side with great leaders.  Today we had the opportunity to visit a small ward at the same time the stake presidency was attending.  These are great men.  Also here are the bishopric for the Ansan ward and other leaders.

We enjoyed a tender moment at the church when a woman with her aged and infirm mother were together.  To keep the grandmother active and focused on her motor skills, they played together for a few minutes.  It was a moving moment.

We had the special gift of having our second son, Nathan and his bride, Kelcie come visit us for a week.  We forgot to take a picture at the airport, but we'll get one when they depart.  While waiting at the airport we captured Terri in a quiet moment.  I love her new hair cut!

The first things Nathan wanted when we arrived at the house was true Korean Ramen!  With all the amazing foods here, that's all he wanted.  We did give him some rice and Bulgogi as well, but this is what he really wanted!

Another great week behind us, another week that we anticipate will be exciting ahead of us.  Please know of our love and appreciation for all who pray for and support our great missionaries and us.  Until next week....

Quick Week - Interviews, Baptisms, and a Luau!

This was a crazy week as we prepared for the calls the missionaries look forward to: Transfer Calls!

We finished interviews with the last zone plus the Assistants to the President:

 These pictures are all in front of the world map in one of the wards where the youth often contemplate where they would like to serve.  It reminds us of how large the world is and how many places the Lord can send these young people.  We were fortunate enough to have them called to serve with us!

 This picture with the Assistants was in our home where we complete interviews.  They like chatting with President, but it's Sister Turner's wit, wisdom, and tasty treats they most look forward to!

The weekend had three baptisms of which we could only attend two due to crazy schedules.  We love to see the missionaries perform musical numbers and interact with the church members with whom they serve.
In this picture, the young in the black shirt in the very center, in front of the tallest Elder is the one who was baptized.  The youth and the ward members came out in great numbers.

The elders sang a very nice song for him, we love the talent.

Another elder played a musical number on the cello, but I didn't get a still photo and the video clip was too large to put here.  We are so amazed with what these young people can do!

This ward is in a smaller city in the country-side.  The church is the rented third story of a business.  The first floor is a giant phone store, the second floor is a computer and gaming area, and we rent the third floor.  Because it is business building, the ward has a baptismal font that is easily constructed with a plastic liner and filled with water.  It's an amazing experience.

The second baptism was a young lady who fell in love with the message and with the young ladies teaching her.  These are amazing missionaries.

The third baptism was a woman who had been attending the Church for quite some time and had met with many missionaries.  Two elders started working with her about six weeks ago and helped her feel such a wonderful spirit that she too wanted to be baptized and make the covenants to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ.

We were invited to attend a Luau with one of the wards where three Hawaiian missionaries are currently serving.  They did such an amazing job to help the members prepare a nice Hawaiian meal.  They wanted to cook a pig, but finding a place in Seoul to dig a hole to cook a pig is nearly impossible without violating the rules of local parks!

They did some hula and some haka and even taught the members to dance as well.  It was a fun evening.  We love it when they share all of their talents!

As for interesting sights this week, this first one reminds me of my first visit here 40 years ago.  How much can you get on one bike or motorcycle?

Many have probably seen this picture before, but I love the clear morning air when I run early in the day.  The tower is about three miles away.

Finally, as we prepare for transfers we host a dinner in our home for the missionaries serving closest to us.  Due to a decreasing number of missionaries in our area, we will be closing one area.  The two sisters serving here will be gone. One will actually go home after a wonderful 18 months of service.  The other is reassigned to another area in the mission.  Additionally, one elder who has been serving in the area has been transferred to a new area.  In a show of solidarity, they didn't shave for the day, even the sisters.  We love them.  We wish everyone of our more than 100 missionaries could serve right here at the mission home!

Well, enough for this week.  We'll say farewell to 13 and welcome four this week.  We are sad and excited for the week ahead.  We hope you find this informative and enjoyable for a peek into the Korea Seoul South Mission!  Until next week, know of our love and appreciation for your support for us and especially for our missionaries.

A full week of interviews and one celebrity!

This carrousel is going faster that we ever imagined.  On weeks like this we especially feel vulnerable to time passing.  We arose for interviews on Tuesday and rested Friday evening excited we got to see 83 of the missionaries and chat one on one with each of them.  Then, on top of that we prepared all week for the missionaries to attend a Lexi Walker concert on Saturday with their friends learning about the Church.

As we said in the last blog, we started interviews.  However, we didn't show any pictures at that time, but wanted to combine the majority of them for this week.  We hope you can find the loved one you are missing:

These two got away for an appointment before we could get a picture with them, but they sent us one later.

 

 

 The phone gets away from us once in a while.  Usually, the pictures that come out are pretty entertaining.

At the end of interviews one day, two wonderful missionaries provided a nice gift to us.  Ever made banana bread in a rice cooker?  These guys are amazing.  Moist and tasty!

Finally, on Saturday we had a wonderful opportunity to attend a concert from the YouTube star and Church member Lexi Walker.  What a thrill that was for us.  She was full of light and a real pleasure to listen to.  If you want to know a little more about her you can find it here: Lexi Walker

The missionaries were invited to come and bring friends learning about the Church.  It was well attended.  It will be fun to read the reviews later. The person on the card with her was Seo Chulgu, a local rapper who became famous by competing in a large Korean talent show.

These two missionaries had a great picture with her.  I had counseled them to not put their arms around her, but it appears she grabbed them!

 We had a great conversation with Lexi's father.  He's quite a kind man and had many fun stories about their family which would be fun to share, but they are theirs to share.

We had one fun observation outside our own apartment this week.  Most times we see people cleaning windows, but these guys were cleaning the granite!

We continue to find great joy in these young people.  We hope their letters home reflect positive things.  We love what we're doing and are humbled by the opportunity to be in this situation.

Until next week!