LAST ZONE CONFERENCES - DAEJEON AND SUGI

On July 22 we had our last zone conference!   Because it was our last time to see all the missionaries, we also went to the zone conference in Daejeon.  It was so bittersweet! There are no words to describe the emotions I felt knowing this would probably be the last time I see some of these people!  The above picture is me saying goodbye to Sister Kang.  She and her husband Elder Koo have helped us with many zone conferences - They have been serving a Senior Service mission here in our Mission.  They are so wonderful - it has been one of our greatest blessings to get to know them - we will miss them but they will be in Utah visiting their children this fall so we hope our paths will cross again soon!  She has become so much better at speaking English - I wish I could say the same about my Korean!

This is our beloved Mission Leader, Sister Kwak and Sister Clegg - Sister Clegg served with us last October and helped me make the donuts for the library.  She is always such a happy missionary!  We loved our time with her and look forward to seeing her when she returns home! She is from Lehi, Utah

Sister Kwak and our dear Sister Massera!  She lived right below us for a few transfers but she served in the Korean ward.  She joined the church three or four years ago and her testimony shines as bright as can be!  Because she was in our district, we were able to get to know her! While she was here on her mission- her little brother was baptized - it was a miracle for her! We are so excited because her plan is to come to BYU-Idaho!  We will definitely keep in touch!  She actually is released from her mission the same day we are but her grandma lives here in Korea so she is staying with her for a few days before going home to Oklahoma,

This is Sister Togia from Laie, Hawaii - She served her first transfer here at Osan with us! She is full of the Aloha spirit and we are honored to add her to our adopted grandchildren!  These young missionaries have brought such a light into our lives! They are all part of the miracles of our mission               

The pictures above are the missionaries who are serving in the South part of the mission this transfer - they are missionaries that served with us in Osan and the second picture is the missionaries that served with us in our Pyeontaeck District.  We attend District Council each Tuesday morning with our district and try to take a set of missionaries to lunch each week to get to know them better.  It has been such a joy!

For my own sake, I need to list their names here 

In the first picture are Sister Togia (Hawaii) Sister Clegg (Lehi, Utah) Sister Lowe, Elder Preston Rocque (American Fork, Utah) Elder Lowe,  Sister Massera (Oklahoma) and Sister Stromberg (Rexburg, Idaho) 

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Elder Keate (St George, Utah), Elder Fisher (Gilbert, Arizona) Elder Nivera (The Phillipines) Elder Coder (Las Vegas, Nevada) Sister Togia, Sister Massera, Sister Clegg, Sister and Elder Lowe, Elder Rocque, Sister Christensen (Pleasant Grove, Utah) Sister Stromberg, Elder Berdon (Phiippenes), Elder Smedley, (Wyoming), Elder Moser (Blackfoot, Idaho)

These were the missionaries we worked with in the South Zones - The Parks, Sister Kim, Sister Kang, Elder Britton and Elder Lowe

It is tradition to sing Arriang to the departing missionaries and then have them bear their testimonies at the end of Zone Conference - these are the three from the South that will be going home with us. Sister Massera, Elder Fisher , and Elder Spiker

Here are some more of the missionaries we served with! Elder Carlson from Oregon, Sister Glauser (Family currently in Georgia), Sister Clark (Georgia), and Sister Bowen (From California)

Sister Lee was in the MTC with us  but we have never had a chance to have her in our district. She still has the most wonderful smile! She is from Tucson, Arizona

Southern zone missionaries

Here are some fun pictures of the Senior missionaries we worked with at zone conference in Sugi

Elder Bradley, Sister Lackley and Elder Koo and Sister Kang,

On the way to Daejeon, we go through one of my favorite tunnels in Korea.  As we were driving through this tunnel - I had a life lesson experience.  All over Korea there are mountains and hills,  Instead of going around them or over them - they just dig their way through the mountain and build a tunnel.  This may be more difficult at first but it makes getting to the destination  for those traveling through the tunnel after its completion much faster.  As I compared that to life and it's challenges - I thought sometimes we try to skirt the issues or go around them rather than facing them head on and working our way through them - I am challenging myself to do as the Koreans and dig my way through the challenges in life rather than trying to go around or over them.

Just a few more pictures of our Missionary Grandkids - Elder Neilsen (I think Arizona) Elder Berdon and Elder Rocque

                                                       Elder Wolfert and Elder Woestman

                                                            Elder Nivera and Elder Coder




Below are just a few pictures I took on our many journeys to Daejeon,  I loved the drive!

 

These are the missionaries in the north zones going home with us - Elder Rust. Elder Fisher, Elder Ricks, Elder Lockhart, Elder Willis (Colorado) and Sister and Elder Lowe

At the conclusion of the zone conferences the departing missionaries are asked to bear their testimonies. The above elder is Elder Willis.  He served with us for seven months so it is a tender mercy that we will be able to  leave the mission together,

Thiw was definetly an emotional moment for us!

We went to inspect an apartment in the Choenan Zone and some of the country we hadn't seen before. This bridge is really quite close to our home and very beautiful.  We took the missionaries to lunch at a Seafood Stew place after inspecting their apartments!  It was amazing!

JEJU ISLAND! THE HAWAII OF KOREA

On July 4th we took the weekend and flew to Jeju Island with our office couple friends, Sister Deborah Lackley and Elder Bob Bradley!  We had an amazing couple of days!  It was fun to be with them and lots of fun to see the beautiful Jeju Island. If any of you are K-drama fans - be sure to watch "When Life gives you Tangerines" It's one of my favorites, so I was excited to go see where it was filmed.

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The night before we left we took the LB's (Lackley/Bradley) to the flight line for the July 4th celebration.  We had it on the 3rd of July and Camp Humphreys had theirs on the 4th. I think they take turns because last year we had ours on the 4th and Humphreys had theirs on the fifth. We walked through the booths and watched the fireworks.  We missed some ot the shows because it was very hot so we just went over later in the evening.  We took them to dinner at a Malatong (Korean version of a Chinese dish) before going over to the base.  It was a fun evening We were able to see many of our friends on the base and show the office couple a little bit about what we do as military relations missionaries.

We rode on a tour bus to Chong-ju airport and then took Korean Airlines to Jeju.  When we arrived in Jeju we boarded another tour bus and drove to the South of the island.  We were amazed at all the tangerine, mandarin, and orange trees - they were everywhere on this part of the island. And believe me when I tell you that you will never have a better orange than here on the island.  I could have eaten them all day long!!

Just some of the scenery as we drove to the South.  It was a cloudy day but not much rain.  The forecast was for rain the whole time but it seemed to rain at night and give us very pleasant weather during the day

At the market - enjoying the food - but especially enjoying the oranges!!

Pictures of the walk down to the beautiful waterfall.  There are other waterfalls on the Island but this one it the touristy one!  Very beautiful! There was only so much we could do in a couple of days but the ITT tour was a great way to get to see a quick overvies of the island!

After the market, we drove to the beach and took a boat ride on a luxury yacht for about 90 minutes.  It was such fun.  Elder Lowe even got to drop his fishing line in; Very beautiful

I tried to get pictures of these beautiful hydrangeas all along the highway but it was hard to get a picture to do them justice while riding on the bus. But they lined the roads almost everywhere.  The orange groves would be back behind them

These are pictures of the beach from our hotel.  It was very relaxing and beautiful!

This picture doesn't really do it justice but all along the road to the north are rock walls  - outlining the fields and the road it's pretty amazing to see - they are all done by hand - these people are so industrious and they have a lot of ingenuity!

Pictures of our hike up Seongsan Illcholbon (Sunset Peak ) The rain held off until we got to the top and then the clouds rolled in. It never ceases to amaze me when I hike the mountains in Korea they have steps on most of trails we have been on or rug mat to help keep your traction,

Made it up !  Drenched in humidity and sweat! But so beautiful!

This is the little area where the abolone women divers do their thing.  We didn't see any of the divers, but I think there was one lady diving that a couple of the people with us saw,

Our trip to Majanggul Cave  - lava flow tunnels from a dormant volcano.

Trying to find a good restaurant!  We thought we were going to a pasta and salad restaurant and it ended up being a very expensive, by Korean Standards, Seafood place.  We had the Crab Stew (kkotge-jjigae) It was good but way to much work because the crabs were not very big. The other plate was the kids plate and it was Don Katsu also very good!  We have really loved the Korean Food here, so much so that I am bringing about 40 pounds home and it's all on my waist and hips! Kind of hard to eat healthy when you're in one of of the food capitals of the world!

This was a little walkway right outside of our hotel.  Very beautiful!

We feel so blessed to have served here in Korea and met so many beautiful people but we feel super blessed to have had an opportunity to experience the beauty of the country that they live in!  God is definitely the greatest artist of all!