Heavy week of Pictures and Interviews

We had lots of time with our missionaries this week!  We really enjoy them and their personalities.  We think they enjoy the break from their great work to chat about how things are going.  They are amazing.  Be sure to ask them how the new SYL program is going.  In case you didn't know, it means "Speak Your Language".  When they are at home they can talk in whatever language they like, but when they leave their apartment, they are in Korea and will speak Korean to each other and to others.  We are having a great response to it.  Even President Turner is getting better...

On Monday we had a nice lunch for those who have achieved their certification as teachers.  We have forgotten to take that picture periodically, but we remembered today.  These four came into the country at the same time.  Some others have certified and will come later.  The grill master in the apron...

From there it was four straight days of interviews.  What fun we had. There is personality coming from each picture.

 Winter is creeping up on us all.  Gratefully, it's doing it slowly.  It's these guys' second winter, yet you'd think they'd never seen one before...

 We always love pictures in the Primary Room!

With one group we attended their District Council meeting which was a very good experience:

We also walked down to lunch, but didn't get any pictures of the group except working on the streets.  A few had very good conversations.

Never a dull moment with these zone leaders..

At another interview location, a local sister ordered lunch for the missionaries and for us.  It was nice to sit with them for a moment.  They are all amazing.

There is always the random picture, a camera with it's own mind....

Fulfilling more our missionary was a fruitful weekend activity.  We were able to attend one baptism, but not others.  Even in Korea we baptize people from other countries.  The man in the middle without the tie was introduced a the fellow in the tie.  They are both from the Philippines working in Korea.  We had a good day with them.  So much humility and faith.  The elders did a wonderful work teaching him including his friend who introduced him.

We were not able to attend this one, but there was a very good turn out from the young single adults to support the young man.  We love pictures like this.

We had another visit from a previous missionary.  He lives in southern South Korea, but is now working, studying in the Seoul are.  We love it when they want to come 'home'.

We had our first snow storm this week. We woke up to the surprise on Saturday morning.  It was a pretty crazy driving morning, but by afternoon it was sunny and beautiful.  By evening it was gone!

Finally, being able to concentrate on a task at hand is a major focus of our mission.  Here we demonstrate what is like to focus on cutting a large piece meat with scissors while eating Kimchi Stew.  Everything in the post is large and has to be hand cut.  The bib is to prevent major messes on the clothes. It is a common occurrence to wear the stew sauce.  Boy, was it enjoyable.

Another quick week has passed.  This week we'll finish up interviews and contemplate transfer calls which happen next Saturday. The mission will have major changes this transfer with six leaving and nine coming.  That represents a large portion of the mission needing to be training and filling behind the departing veterans.  We love these young people!! Until next time.

Miracles and Learnings

Miracles are a daily fare here.  We wanted to share this one so you appreciated the faith and diligence and hard work of our wonderful missionaries.  We're sure you'll have some of the same images in your heads as you read through this:

Had an interesting morning so far- As [my companion] and I left the house this morning to come and email, we had a fun experience. As we waited for the elevator, I set my breakfast (a muffin) on the windowsill- this is ten stories up- to tie my shoe. Of course, the muffin falls from its precarious position ten stories below. I was understandably distraught. We hurried down expecting to find a mess of chocolate crumbles all over the pavement, but instead found the muffin perfectly intact. What a miracle. The only issue is it had fallen on glass rain roof, roughly 15 feet up... Luckily, with my height and [my companion] on my shoulders wielding a broomstick, we successfully retrieved the muffin. It was delicious.

We had a great week with missionaries as we conducted our three zone conferences.  We had only one zone at a time.  There was great training, learning and sharing of experiences.  The women of the local stakes prepared and served the food which was a great blessing for everyone!
First the three zones:
Gyeonggi was the first and the largest.

Second was the Seoul South Zone.  This includes the ladies who prepared/served the meal.

 The final conference was the Seoul West zone.

Of course we can't ignore the sisters in the other areas that prepared/served our meals:

Some views of the food!

 We sang to the sisters before each meal in appreciation.  This picture captures the food as well as the singing.

This will give you a sense for the foods eaten.  We didn't capture it all this well.

This will give you a sense for the energy of the missionaries before eating.

Musical talent was shared though with the video I didn't always capture a still photo.

Skits were also provided, again not all were captured on film.

Occasionally, we have a birthday to celebrate on the day of the conference.

Terri and I had the good blessing this week of attending the temple sealing for a previous missionary and his wonderful bride. What a sweet experience that was for us!  We've now attended two of the about 20 marriages that have taken place of our missionaries since we arrived.  The two were in Korea!

We also met two of our previous sisters who served in our mission on that day!

As for unusual things we saw this week, we have two to show.  

The first may be hard to pick out, but so many cars have the famous "Baby on Board" signs in so many ways that this one stood out to us.  One says "Baby Jedi on Board" and the other "Baby Sith on Board".

 This one made us laugh.  I don't believe we have a Kleenex or handkerchief large enough for this kind of cold!

There is never a dull moment in our mission.  We start interviews this week and will have pictures of the many companionships.  We feel like it has been a long time since we were able to sit down with each individual missionary and see how they're doing.  We are going into the colder months and we want to make sure they have all they need.

Thank you as always for the prayers and support to the missionaries and for us.  They special young people that make us laugh, cry, pray, and rejoice.  We hope you can sense that in their letters and emails.  Have a great week!