March Update

This week our boss officially bought our tickets home and she actually paid for the whole thing. Even our 10 day detour in Honolulu. We thought we would end up paying some sort of difference and that was our original plan to present to her. But my Dad gave us the idea of just showing her the full trip with a stop in Honolulu, which was priced at $981 and then showing her the price of just a straight shot to Salt Lake City, which was $970 and tell her we would rather do the one with the stop in Honolulu because that is where my family will be She said she would pay for the whole thing going through Honolulu!! We were so happy and grateful that she would be so generous to us on our way home. We have had some really tough times trying to communicate effectively with our boss, have felt very uninformed about must everything, and especially tired of the frequent last minute schedule changes to our classes but over the last few weeks we have gained a great appreciation for the many good things that she has done for us.
This month we took two trips to Seoul because next month the Temple will be closed for cleaning and that was just about all we could handle of the city for one month. The first Saturday of the month we drove with 2 others from the Branch and the last Saturday of the month we took the city bus there and back. Both trips were a success and far less stressful than last trips but it is just still never very much fun for us to be in that crowded of a place for very long. The traffic is always horrible and we are pretty sure that breathing the air there for one day is the equivalent of smoking four packs of cigarettes. It really is that bad. And you are constantly being pushed and shoved by people going either which way. The second trip when we were on our own we decided to take the subway to a shopping area that we like and had heard had a lot of ties. We did find the ties and Liji was in tie heaven. You would not believe the shopping here. I feel way too overwhelmed with the amount of choices in everything that I just have to give up and not buy anything. Liji isn’t patient enough to wait for me to finally make my choice and I don’t like to buy something without thinking it through for awhile and making sure I have seen all my options and that I am getting the best deal. Well there are at least 6 or 7 blocks in the area we were at that has these stores covering them that each go up at least 6 or 7 stories. Pretty much whatever it is you are looking for, whether it’s shoes, ties, suits, nightgowns, underwear, pants, shirts, dresses, accessories, handbags, hair things, Korean traditional dress, bedding, fabric, buttons, crafts, ect.; you can find a whole floor a block long of just that item. It is insane!

These are all the sweet motorcycle/scooter guys that zoom past everyone else in traffic to the front of the light, and then all zoom off together just before the light turns green. It's so funny to watch. Plus they sure know how to pack their scooters right:)

This next picture is for the benefit of Myriah and Tara and any of the others of you that knew Liji during his short tie/single days.

As you can see Liji is seriously in tie heaven.

Last Friday was a really clear day, which happens very far and in between here in Korea, because of the smog. So because of that I got an early morning wakeup call from Liji asking that I get up so we could drive over to Oh Sung San Mountain and get some clear pictures of the city. Well I got up and I’m really glad we went over because we really did get some great pictures. I didn’t even think that you could even really see the city from where we were because the past times that we have hiked that mountain you couldn’t see the city at all and I thought that it was pretty sunny and clear on those days. I guess that’s how much I’ve adjusted to the smog here and not being able to see more than 20 feet ahead of you. When you can see just 50 feet ahead of you I think it’s a clear day, when it’s really not. Well this was a really good day. This same day our first Elder here in Gunsan; Elder Truehaft was also here in the city with his companion because Elder Jeong had to do a day of his Korean Military service and Elder Brassfield couldn’t find someone available to do splits with him all day. We were really excited to be able to see Elder Truehaft again. In the morning they invited us to go to Wolmyoung Park with them to make some contacts. It happened to be a sunny day and they were able to get a few phone numbers which was good. Lotte Mart had half off at their Food Court so we all stuffed ourselves there. Pretty much everyone ordered 2 different meals because it was so cheap and there were 5 of us so we could barely fit everything on our table, but it was good.

Also this month the members of the Korean Ward decided to start up reading the Book of Mormon in English together every Saturday at 4:00 so we’ve been going there to help out with pronunciation when we have been in the city. It’s great for us because they have a meal together afterwards and their food is always really good. The Korean Ward has been really strengthened in the last year. They haven’t had any baptisms from this particular city, but they have had some strong member families move into the area just recently and there has just been a huge change in the ward since we first got here. Our first Sunday last June there were only about 21 people and just this last Sunday there were 43 people! It’s doubled. The atmosphere of love and friendship is just so strong; it’s awesome.
Here's Liji taking two of the kids from the Korean ward home after they showed up on their own(their parents both work Saturdays) for the weekly Saturday English Book of Mormon reading class. But it was cancelled due to all the other members going to a stake activity in Jeonju. We happened to be at the church sitting in a discussion with the Elders so Liji offered to drive them home. I just had to get a picture of all three of them on there. They do this a lot here.

Now that Winter is coming to a close and we have acquired so much stuff while being here we have boxed up our Winter clothes to send home. It is so weird that in just 2 short months this whole Korean experience will be coming to a close. It will probably be the most Bitter/Sweet Moment of my Life. When I think of saying goodbye to the students and our Korean friends I am close to tears, but when I think about being back in the US, and being with family again I’m ready to jump on the next plane out.