Angels in White Shirts and Ties

Thursday, June 27th proved to be a roller coaster ride of a day. We started the day by trying to take care of some necessary business at the Army base. We needed to get a ration card in order to by groceries. By the way, our cupboards were bare and we really needed to buy groceries. Unfortunately, we hit a few stumbling blocks and it wasn't possible to get groceries until the next day. DOWN!

We came home, changed our clothes and walked to the church for our District meeting. There we met four sets of young missionaries. Two sets of Sisters and Two sets of Elders. They were wonderful and we were happy to join them. UP!

Then the whole meeting was in Korean. Not the Korean we learned, a much faster confusing Korean. DOWN!

But a sweet Sister McKay, a beautiful young missionary acted as our translator and we enjoyed the message and the Spirit of the meeting. UP!


After the meeting we came back to our apartment and  every thing fell apart. We couldn't start our stove, couldn't get to immigration to register as aliens, couldn't set up our internet. No one around us understood what we were trying to say and we certainly didn't understand them. Fred was in fix-it mode, but I was in the pits of discouragement. I poured my heart out in prayer, feeling a little foolish. I told Heavenly Father I knew these were small things and that my discouragement would pass. But we really needed help because we just couldn't do this. A few minutes later a strange bell sounded. Okay, so it was the doorbell. Things even sound different here. Then I noticed the screen on the wall- the one I hadn't paid attention to before. It was lit up with a the picture you see below.


Meet Elder Jo and Elder Kim. This picture is of them standing outside our apartment looking at the security camera. You may see Korean missionaries, but I see angels in white shirts and ties. They came to our rescue. They fixed our stove, took us to immigration and arranged for the Internet technician to come the next day and told us they would be here to translate. We rewarded them with dinner at Costco- their choice. Oh how I love those missionaries. How I love our Heavenly Father who sends help in the form of angels in white shirts and ties.

Home away from Home

We left the SLC airport about 11:30 am on Monday the 24th of June heading to Korea by way of Portland then Tokyo. We arrived at the Busan airport Tuesday at 8:30 pm.  Physically it felt like 2 million 30 pm. Sitting strapped in place in a small airplane seat for hours on end tends to make time stand still! We were so happy to get off the plane. More than that we were thrilled to be in Korea.




We were greeted warmly by other missionaries, including President and Sister Gilbert. They took us to the mission home (their home) for the first night. A lovely inviting home, an hour of friendly getting to know you conversation, then a warm comfortable bed and we were down and out!

Wednesday morning we went next door to the mission office for an orientation, which included some necessary paperwork. Living in a foreign country creates several hoops to jump through. At noon President Gilbert took us all to an authentic Korean restaurant. I can't remember what it was called, but I do remember it was delicious. Then we hopped in our little Samsung car and followed the Gilberts on the 90 minute drive from Busan to Daegu. Amazing scenery! Green forested mountains, rice fields, rivers... just beautiful. We literally  drove through the mountains in a series of tunnels. It was a peaceful relaxing drive.

Suddenly Daegu popped up on the horizon. Tall buildings and lots of traffic, but a very clean and attractive city. They call it Colorful Daegu- a well chosen theme.  The picture below is our apartment building. I will post inside pictures at a later date. For now, I will just say it is a very nice roomy apartment in a very safe neighborhood. Our perfect home away from home. The Gilberts spent the rest of the day with us. Showing us around and continually welcoming us. You may not have a real appreciation for the sacrifice they made. Mission Presidents and their wives are very very VERY busy people. They shepherd a large group of young missionaries and tend to their training and to their needs. They have almost no time to themselves. The gift of their time is priceless. We already love these generous leaders. We also already love Korea. We are ready to teach, lift , help, encourage and to find the lost sheep. We are ready to be missionaries.



Annyonghi geh se yo!

This is the English spelling for one of the Korean words meaning goodbye. This is the one you use when the people you are speaking to are staying, and you are leaving. This is the word that is appropriate for us.

We have been officially set apart as missionaries. Thursday morning before the sun rises we will drive to the airport for our flight to Salt Lake City. We will stay in Provo about ten days. Most of our time will be spent in training to prepare us for our mission duties. At the end of our Provo stay, ready or not... here we go.

Despite this month old knot in my stomach (caused by our never ending goodbyes), I am very excited for this new adventure. The picture above was taken by the previous missionaries from the window of what will be our apartment in Daegu. Wow, guess I better learn to be a big city girl.

This will most likely be my last post until we are settled into the apartment. We will be trying to wrap up the last of a very long "to do" list during our three remaining days at home.  I hope to post regularly, once we get set up in our apartment.

I hate goodbyes! So here is my prayer until we meet again.

Ooree gajokuhl hago chin guduhl chook-bok heh joo she-yo

Our family and friends blessings do give please.

The Mission Call

Photo by Heidi

         A short story about our mission call to Korea.

We served our first mission in Colorado Springs from September of 2008 to March of 2010. It was a wonderful eighteen months. When our mission was over we knew we wanted to serve again. We talked about different possibilities and settled on going out again in the fall of 2013 or early winter of 2014. Here's the rest of the story:

--October 2012 we received an unexpected call from the San Diego mission president asking us to come and serve a military relations mission there.

--After a few phone calls and negotiations of sorts, we agreed. We settled on a May arrival date. So we submitted our mission paperwork with that intent.

--February 2013 our second farewell torture tour began. This is what we affectionately call our tearful pre-mission trips to say goodbye to family.

--While in Tucson visiting our son DJ, we received a call from the church offices asking if we were willing to serve in a foreign country. Now this was clearly not a mission call, just someone from the missionary department checking to see if that was a possibility.

--March 2013 we gathered our family in our home, on Skype and on speaker phone. We opened our call and read, "You are called to be a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Korea Busan Mission. You should report... Monday, May 13, 2013."

WOW! That was not expected at all.

--A few logistical complications required our report day to be changed to June 10th. Then some medical complications required it to be moved to June 13th. Now we are patiently waiting to see if yet one more complication will cause another postponement!

That may not have seemed like a short story, but believe me if I shared all the details it would have been very long and no one would ever finish reading it. So let me wrap this first post of our new blog up with this... We are thrilled to serve another mission. We are grateful for this amazing opportunity. We are ready and willing to go to Korea, or anywhere we are needed. Yes, another Fsquad adventure is about to begin! Much more to come.