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.

New Year's Eve Work and Celebration

We didn't want to go so long between posts, if we could help it!  There are lots of pictures today primarily because we were with so many missionaries this week.  Over the next week there will be more.  We need to get more pictures of missionaries! This week was primarily about catching up from the busyness of the past weeks and planning for the crazy schedule for the next few weeks.

Terri and I attended a middle and high school graduation ceremony at a school set up for children of North Korea refugees.  Unfortunately, the pictures probably won't be available for a day or two.  We will add them next week.

We did have a nice lunch with a man named Duke Kim (김도균) and his wife this week along with Elder and Sister Robinson.  He attends church with us in Songpa.  Duke is a member of the Korea Olympic Committee and committees for international competition including the ASEAN games and World Cup, etc.  He is an incredible fellow.  The Robinsons are the public affairs couple helping with communications here in Korea.  We learned so much during these few minutes together.

It was a true Korean meal which we don't get very often.  Most restaurants are more Chinese fare.  This was quite good.  Korean food has been greatly influenced by the strong spices of China, Japan, etc.  Everything is pretty red because of the hot pepper powder and past used.  We happen to really like it spicy.  Asia is where the spice variety is, sorry Europe and the Americas.

The real activity for the week was New Year's Eve. Two zones were joining together to sing carols (I know, it's after Christmas, but very natural to do here) and to do what is called sticker boarding.  We have mentioned sticker boarding before.  We hold up a sign that has a question or several on it and people place stickers on the board next to the question of greatest interest to them.  We did this outside of a large mall at a busy subway station.  There were lots of individuals and families walking through the area. 

We asked the question of which of the following questions do you want to know the answer to?
Where did I come from? What is the purpose of life?  Where do I go after this life?  The most common question of interest was "Where do I go after this life?"  It led to a number of very good discussions.  We also handed out some 200+ pamphlets on the Plan of Salvation which were well received.  We had individuals of all ages wanting to put a sticker on the boards.
Here are some random pictures of all of us involved.  There were about 40 of us busy in the work.

Here are more random pictures of just your missionaries who were involved in this activity.

We left the mall and headed to the local church where the stake had invited all the missionaries and their friends, those investigating the church, those who joined the church in the last year in this area and local leaders to a special program and dinner.  The missionaries performed skits, sang songs, and performed in other ways to entertain the crowds.  It was a fun evening of laughter.  We had a much better turnout for the New Years Eve event than we expected. Here are some random pictures of the participants.  Some of the productions were a little goofy, but very entertaining.

 A Santa with an Italian heritage.  He did terrific...

 He's pretending he's on the subway, he's not going to hit her!

 Imagine three large rooms with tables covered with food!  The Relief Society sisters of the stake prepared a meal that was targeted very much to the foreign missionaries.  It had a Mexican flair to it that was very unique to the Koreans.  Terri took the time to patiently teach them how to roll a tortilla into a burrito you can eat with your hands.  The missionaries were in heaven.  There was so much food!  Add to that some salad, smoked salmon sushi, nuts, fruits, several large cakes, etc. and you find the missionaries in heaven for the evening.

On top of that, they had provided a gift for each missionary and, yes those are Krispy Kreme donuts for every companionship.  Terri and I ate ours for dessert and breakfast at home.  They were just like the ones you get in the states!  They were awesome!!
 The church members truly gave a great gift to our missionaries.  It was fun to watch the interactions and the joy.  This is a hard time of year for many  missionaries, being away from families and all.  They were given the kind of attention they needed.  Here are a few more random pictures of the group with us this evening.

 Yes, they all eat well with chopsticks.  At first many think it's a sort of diet strategy, but they quickly get the hang of it and have no trouble eating!

 This is a good picture of some diversity with Koreans, Philippino, Polynesian and American.

 They look like very group of clean cut, happy young men at home... These guys know how to eat!

 The kind group that worked so hard to feed these young people.

 Yes, some are more angelic than others, but we love them all equally!

 We are having a grand time with these fine missionaries.  They are the crème de la crème.  They make us laugh, they make us cry and they make us hopeful for the future of this world.  Thank you to the parents and all those who helped raise such fine young people!