Unpacking, Family Love, and Missionary Moments

After getting home from Australia it was a bit hard to get back into the swing of things. After flying all night to get home and taking a 4 hour bus ride home from the airport we were not too happy to be going straight to work after only having an hour to take a shower and eat. Luckily it was on a Wednesday which is the day we finish early so we only had to work from 1:30-6 and then got to go back home to unpack and rest. It took us pretty much the rest of that week and the weekend to get clothes washed and the apartment cleaned and the food shopping done to where we felt like we were back to normal again. You know how it is coming home from a trip. Right now our students are on their Winter Vacation from School but it’s not good news for us because it actually means two more classes a day for us. Since the kids aren’t going to their public schools in the morning they can spend more time at the Academy so now we have to be to work at 12:30 instead of 2:00pm and still finish at the same time. Yea! Because of that we haven’t been able to do as much in the mornings as we were and really liked to have that time. We shouldn’t go back to our old schedule until March though, which is kind of depressing to us. Oh well, we shall endure.
Last Sunday we got a package from my sister Mandy full of treats and cute pictures from Bella and just today we got a Christmas package from my mom, a nice letter and pictures from Liji’s sister and a really nice book of Australian Poetry that includes “The Man From Snowy River” with an extra little surprise inside from Liji’s parents. Today was like Christmas. It was so much fun to get and I’m pretty sure we’re going to gain back all the weight we’ve lost coming here in the next couple weeks eating all the treats they sent. Some of our friends have gotten to reap the rewards of their thoughtfulness as well, which they were quite happy about. I am so grateful for each of these very kind acts and feel so very blessed for the huge support that we have always had from our family. Even though very far away I still feel very close to them and will always know of their great love for us. It’s always nice to know you are still being thought of.

This last Wednesday we were able to go with the Elders to meet with a new family that they are teaching. They have a son who is 20 and a daughter who is 16. What they usually have us do is they practice their English with us for about 30 minutes and then the Elders teach them a lesson in Korean and then we share our testimonies while the Elders translate. It was really good to meet with this family and I have a feeling that it was only the first of many visits. The mom was just so happy to have us over, so kind and accommodating. We really had a good time. But the thing that impressed me the most was how strongly I felt the Spirit as the Elders taught them a lesson on the Plan of Happiness and I listened to them go off in Korean. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about and they weren’t translating yet I could feel the power of the words and the truth of them. And then it was neat to then after they finished, share what I could feel with this family and point out to them why they were feeling the things that they were and what that feeling means. That it is testifying of the truth of these words. I just feel so blessed to be able to work with our Elders. They are really powerful and doing a great work. Missionary work is not easy over here, especially in our small town of Gunsan where the members are so few.
Saturday was a busy day. In the morning Liji went with the missionaries to play basketball with the older boy from the family that we met on Wednesday and some of his friends. I think he had a pretty good time doing that and then we went to lunch with the Elders and a new man they found who is actually a member but less active. He is an owner of an English Academy like the one that we teach at and speaks English fluently. We were so impressed. He is for sure the best Korean English Speaker that we have met so far and he hasn’t ever even been overseas to an English speaking country. He just studied really hard on his own. He seems like a very intelligent man and we had a great lunch with him. After lunch we went to Liji’s favorite second hand store and found some more great $2 wool sweaters for him and then when to our friend sister Oh’s apartment to take some things to her and visit. She invited us to stay for dinner and then decided to invite the missionaries over also because she can’t normally have them over as there has to be another male around. She overdid herself as she always does and how every other Korean hostess does and really spoiled us with some great Korean food that she had delivered to her place. There is a huge cultural responsibility for the women hostess’ in Korea to take care of the guests in their home. They will never even think of letting us take our dishes to the sink nonetheless wash them or something like that. We try to but she says she will just feel really guilty afterwards if we do and feel like she is not a good hostess. After dinner we went over to the Air Base and finally got to see the movie ‘Avatar’ with our friend Michael. Wow, it definitely lived up to all its talking up. I never felt any sort of lull or boredom whatsoever and very eye appealing graphics. Amazing!

Today (Sunday) we went out to leave for the Korean Ward meetings on the scooter and ended up at the edge of the parking lot with a flat tire. We could have just went and got on our bicycles and headed over to the church building for the Korean Ward but that wouldn’t have gotten us all the way to the Air Base, which is where we have callings and we would have had to take the bus there which wouldn’t have been good getting back on the bus since we were having to stay after church for a PEC meeting and on Sundays the bus only comes every other hour. So we decided we would have to miss the Korean Ward while Liji tried to get the tire filled up but couldn’t find anywhere to do that and just ended up back home an hour and half later without the scooter, no bike shops were open. I guess that’s a good thing since it’s Sunday and we ended up catching the bus out and then getting a ride home with President Ault after our meeting so it all worked out.
I really felt bad about missing the Korean ward because our friend Sister Oh has been having a real tough time making it out to church the last couple months and we really laid it into her when we were at her house last night that we were expecting her at church and then we weren’t even there. I know that she showed up though because we left our camera at her house last night and I had called her when we got home to have her bring it to church. Now she had a specific reason for coming and when I called her today about missing church and how we could get the camera she said that that was the only thing that got her to church today, but she was really happy it did and was happy to be there. Heavenly Father pays attention to the details.

Liji Also bought some Cuttlefish this last week and had some great fun disecting and eating that thing.