Missions are very hard, but can they be fun!

In the weekly emails the following note came through:  

I've been struggling this week with my purpose. One day while talking with my companion, she asked why I am out on a mission and talked about what missionaries do. I spent the rest of the day thinking about my purpose. I couldn't think of why I decided to serve. I even started thinking if I was qualified to be out here teaching. That night I said a prayer and poured out my soul to my Heavenly Father. The next day during personal study I hadn't really thought about the day before but I was reading conference talks, Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "A Yearning for Home" was next. I started reading and so many things that he said answered my prayers. A sweet spirit came over me confirming that God hears my prayers and answers them.
Everything is great and so fun being a missionary. Everything has its ups and its downs but I couldn't call it a successful day if I can't end it on a good note. Missionary work is hard, but it isn't impossible. Life is hard but that is why it is fun. If it was easy we would never grow.

These messages always warm our hearts. These are young people developing new understandings and perspectives.  When they arrive at something like the above on their own, it is especially meaningful.  We are so blessed to be with them!

This past week we started interviews again.  You'll notice a few unusual things, like wearing coats, scarves, and gloves in the pictures.  There is a reason for that.  It is very cold!

 In the building in which we took the picture above, there was no heat at all.  We tried for some time to get it going, but the internal temperature was probably 10-15 degrees F.  In Korea, they do not heat the entire building, just the individual rooms.  However, we couldn't get the master system to work, so there was no heat in any of the rooms.

 This building was a bit warmer.  The above sisters got their new down comforter donated by a church leader to each missionary (see previous post) and used it to walk home.

 This building had heat, but as the heat blew from the ceiling, it seemed like the top four feet of the room was warm and when sitting down, you were cold from the shoulders down.  The missionaries were good sports and we were only in each building about four to five hours.

 By the last interviews, Sister Turner needed to snuggle to warm up.  Fine by me...

In the middle of the week, we took a break to drive to the airport to pick up a new Military Relations couple who will be working with the single and unaccompanied Air Force church members who are assigned to Osan air base.  They are a wonderful couple who recently completed a mission to Madagascar.  They are ready to serve again.  We got them settled in their new apartment.

 After one set of interviews, a good member of the local ward and his wife invited the missionaries and Sister Turner and I to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.  It was such a wonderful kindness. On top of that, they provided flowers to the lady of the mission, Terri as well as a cake.  They are so generous to us and to the missionaries who work so hard.

Terri had a couple of P-day adventures this week with missionaries.  First, she took the bullet train south on her own.  She was concerned about when to get off and all, but she did great. 

 She even got a special breakfast of mixed fruit and nuts and a small bottle of water for her trip.

The sister missionaries in the area picked her up and went to a place where for ten minutes you put your feet in water and little fishes eat the dead skin from your feet. if you look closely you will note that she was hogging the fish. Old woman feet syndrome :}   I was invited but decided to continue to work instead.  I'm not big into anyone or anything playing with my feet.

 She also was joined by a few elders of the area to see what the women were up to.  It is safe to say she made it back to me later in the day.  It was an easy trip as it is the end of the line.

 Then, today she had the opportunity to visit one of the local open markets.  Even with the temperatures being in the mid teens and wind chill well below that, she and a few sisters wandered through this market which is in this area on any day that ends with 4 or 9.  She was pretty thoroughly frozen when she returned home.

As for interesting sights for the week.  Even motorcycles can be used to pull carts.  As cold as it is, there are still people delivering or picking up things all over town.  Some people seem to survive better in the cold than others.

We will finish where we started, an experience of a missionary.  This missionary is trying to utilize the new tools for online proselyting and teaching.  Many missionaries have friends back home they would like to introduce to this amazing message while they serve missions.  With the new tools they can do that.  Here's an experience from one of our missionaries:

I have some great news for you!!! Today I did my first online session with my friend back at home and we had a great conversation. She had gone to seminary in the past and had shown some interest in church but got busy along the way and never ended up meeting the missionaries. When I found out we could try to help our friends receive the Gospel, she was the first person I thought of and I was so excited to see if I could help her at all. I was a little nervous to extend the invitation to her to take the missionary lessons (because like most members, I thought I would love a friend) but then I trusted that the Lord would provide the words and Spirit I needed to touch her heart, and He did. I bore simple and fervent testimony of how important the Gospel is and how much it could bless her life and how because she was my friend and I didn't want her to miss this opportunity to receive it. Instead of becoming awkward, she actually was really happy I reached out to her and was very excited to receive the missionaries at her home. I found out that she had actually been reading the Book of Mormon with her father in order to understand it more and know our beliefs. I was so happy when my friend accepted the invitation and it showed me that I can still do missionary work even when I go home. It is a special joy to help a stranger on the street find happiness, but when you can help someone you are already close to, the joy is even greater. It was a great miracle to me

These are young men, young women with limited experience.  However, they pick up pretty quickly the purpose they have to invite others to come to Christ and use all their resources.  It is easy to note their humble desire to share.  They don't want to bully people or try to compel them to a belief or acceptance of the message.  They have the deep love of the Savior and the gospel and like missionaries of old, "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."  They do this with huge smiles on their faces.

It's fun to be with them and share their message.  The missionaries even gave me a chance this week to teach with them. What a thrill that was.

What joy fills the heart when a testimony of the Savior of the world is shared with others.  There's lots of joy in our mission right now.

Millenials

A lot is said about the current generation of millennials.  Some also call them 'snowflakes' because they seem to not be able to handle the heat or pressure they get put under.  We have seen that.  However, I can also say we are working with 111 amazing 'millennials' that we believe are pretty amazing.

It truly is amazing how these 18-21 year old young men and women go to work.  Do you know many who will forgo academic, music, athletic, art scholarships for 18 months or two years of the daily rejection that these young people do? 

Most mission trips are for a week or two, but how about this group which represent over 80,000 of their peers around the world?  They wash dishes in welfare centers, feed invalid and handicapped adults and children, they make food to feed the hungry.  The smiles that come from them while they do this work is amazing.  They teach some English a few hours a week.
They have a deep conviction and faith in the message they are sharing.  Imagine setting a goal to speak to at least 100 people everyday sharing your message knowing that in a single week maybe only one or two will give you the time to hear your message.  The rest will reject you coldly. 
Imagine them, male and female, in tears bearing witness to a truth and seeing the changes in lives and the joy and peace brought into families.  These are not entitled youth.  They are giving so much.  They arise at 6:30 every morning and retire at 10:30 absolutely worn out.  However, they also know how to laugh and have fun.  We have world class violinists, pianists, athletes in our  midst.  They sing, they celebrate, and they cry.  They don't cry for themselves so much as for those they love.

Terri and I are having so much fun with them.  We had a mission leadership council meeting this week with this group.  Their personalities are pretty amazing.  We would offer this group to most any organization as quality leaders who are organized, goal-driven, focused, and fun to be around.
Here's a link to a recent posting of one person's perspective on this generation.  It was very eye-opening and instructive.  However, please don't use this brush to paint all our young people!
Millennials - What's Wrong.

This week was focused on preparing for the rest of the transfer.  We have learned of some significant changes to the daily and monthly schedule which the missionaries will learn more of in a conference we will conduct at the end of the month.  More responsibility for managing their schedule will be given to them.  Read Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28 to understand the new responsibility they will have. 

 People often wonder if some of the comforts we take for granted in the US are available to us here.  On our way recently to a Costco we passed this place.  I think some of you will recognize it.  We don't have a need for anything, but it's nice to know it's there...

 We showed one of these before, this one is up close and personal.  If you have concerns about the safety of the construction workers with warning signs, you can use one of these guys.  Many of them are two-faced, you can catch them coming and going...

As you know, soccer is a big deal here.  In the background you an see the exercise equipment which is primarily used by the older generation.  I can't tell if that's a white mustache or his teeth.

 We finally had the opportunity to get away for a few minutes.  We were near Osan Air Force base on Saturday evening attending a baptism and found a number of tourist traps selling everything from tailored suits and shirts and other clothes to flags, wood carvings, celadon pottery to foods, novelties and other trinkets.  We also heard there was a good selection of international foods.  We wandered through until we found good Indian food. It was across the street from a nice Thai restaurant and around the corner from Mexican and Turkish food.  I'm sure we'd have found more.  Too bad it's over an hour from home...  On the way out we found they still had up a few Christmas decorations.

I mentioned briefly last week that we attended a school graduation for the children of North Korean refugees.  It's a nice big school with very modern technology.  However, one thing we can't get accustomed to and was true in this school as well, is that they only heat the rooms.  All the hallways, stairwells, etc. are not heated.  Boy was it cool.  Gratefully, the assembly hall was heated, but everyone still wore their coats.

The most unique part of the ceremony was the washing of the students' feet by the teachers and staff.  There were so many tears shed.  This is not a school supported by or sponsored in anyway by a religious group.  The government supports it.  However, they had this very amazing ceremony as an attempt to tighten the relationship long term for the youth and their teachers.

We took two of our missionaries with us because they will have the opportunity to provide English conversation assistance.  We will not be proselyting, but we hope these missionaries and any others who participate in the future will bring additional positive examples to youth, many who have lived in hardship for many years.

As for the "Wow, this is unique!" offering for the week, while driving on Sunday we passed this interesting architecture.  It was pretty cool.

Finishing where we started, we are involved in some unique situations.  We are living in a different culture, trying to speak a very complicated language, sharing a message of faith in a country whose religious foundation is Buddhism and some Confucianism and strongly focused on worshipping ancestors and yet we're having nothing but fun.  We are surrounded by young people who are happy, dedicated and diligent.  We can tell you that there is great hope for this generation.  They do need some guidance and occasional discipline, but all in all, they are an amazing group. 

With a schedule full of interviews for the next few weeks, we hope to have more pictures of your missionaries.  We are so blessed to be spending so much time with them.