Every time I come to update my blog - I realize I have waited way too long and I never know quite where to start. I think this time I will just give the best update I can remember and then just leave the pictures so you can look and guess what story they go to!😂😂
First of all, today is our one year mark on this second mission. We have missed so much at home, but we have been so blessed with newfound relationships here in Korea which we will treasure for the eternities. The Koreans have a word for that - it's called Jeong - Jeong (정) is a deeply rooted Korean cultural concept representing a warm, often unspoken, emotional bond, attachment, or feeling of affection that develops between people over time. It goes beyond simple love, encompassing loyalty, sympathy, and a sense of shared, collective, and communal connection to others.
If anyone were to ever ask me what a senior mission was like I would never be able to put it into words. Some days are the hardest, and you miss your family and you wonder if you are meeting your purpose and if your are making a difference in anyones lives and other days are the most wonderful days you could imagine. One of the younger missionaries described it this way - the reason we have the ups and downs is so we understand how wonderful it is to be out here spreading the light of Christ and bringing joy to our friends, whether they are baptized or not!
We are keeping busy with Family nights, Come Follow Conference Wednesdays, Game night on Fridays. Visits with lonely and sick. Teaching a Zoom English class, Missionary meetings, Red Cross events, USO events and now returning to the Library for story time and home school club. Not to mention the trainings, zone conferences and apartment inspections. AND, as you notice by all of our pictures - lots of dinners and treats! I do cook a LOT! Elder Lowe calls this the CES mission (cooking every second) He tries to keep up with my messes by cleaning up as I work. I try to take at least one day a week to just bake and fill my freezer with things I can take out at a moments notice. We have learned food brings connections, whether you are just taking someone out to dinner, taking a meal to a sick member, taking treats to meetings and activities or just having people over for a group dinner. It has opened many doors for us to create some Jeong with the people we are working with. (I am working hard at not eating all the snacks I make - but I definitely could work a little harder at that! - I am also open to some healthy ideas - I tell people I am poisoning them with all the sugar! I'm pretty sure I have used more sugar, flour and chocolate chips here in one year than I have used in the last ten or fifteen years!
A week or so ago I did double duty for the Red Cross. Each month we do a coffee cart for the medical personal while they are in training and myself and another lady bring lots of baked goods. (She just PCS'd to Japan (Permanent Change of Duty Station) so we will be lost without her - She became a very dear person in our lives in a very short time. Her name is Sue and before she left she brought me some homemade vanilla, vanilla sugar, sour dough starter, and freeze dried sour dough starter - she was trying to set me up for success without her! I will miss her!!
The Red Cross was also asking for baked goods to have prepared for the airmen that were being deployed due to world situations right now. So I baked most of the day to take goodies to them. Food and flowers have always been pretty much my love language - so I am not complaining. It is nice to have people who appreciate every little thing and it does bring a sense of joy when you are helping out a with a need.
The Red Cross was also asking for baked goods to have prepared for the airmen that were being deployed due to world situations right now. So I baked most of the day to take goodies to them. Food and flowers have always been pretty much my love language - so I am not complaining. It is nice to have people who appreciate every little thing and it does bring a sense of joy when you are helping out a with a need.
Elder Lowe gets frustrated with me because I jump from topics right in the middle of a conversation and he says it is hard to follow my train of thought - I just can't stick to one thought - I have all these thoughts going every direction in my mind as I write this - so if it jumps all over the place please forgive me. I would like to take some time to organize it and make it a little more concise, but right now I am just trying to get as much recorded as I can in the time I have allotted. So I guess, you just get a real dose of my personality if you have the patience to read this whole word salad.
Over the last month we have lost one of our favorite airmen! He's been here with us the whole time and we had a few family connections and he and Elder Lowe really connected because of their love for the outdoors and because he is going to Alaska to serve at JBEAR ( Elmendorf/Richardson for those of you wondering)
We also had transfers and sent our Sisters to the South of the mission. We will really miss them. It's always sad when they leave but then we just get more in to love! Lots of Grandma Osan grandkids between the missionaries, the branch and the library! It was pretty fun when I ventured back to help slowly at the library. One of the little boys came in and saw me and shouted, "Mom, look Grandma Osan is back!" Almost made me tear up a little!
We celebrated Randy's birthday. The four sisters that lived below us showed up in the evening and brought him a crown - it was pretty cute!
The next day we took a trip with the senior missionaries up to Seoul. We went to the National Museum of Korea and the crown the sisters brought was a paper copy of a very large gold crown at the museum. See the picture below.
We grabbed lunch together at the Original Pancake House (Yes, there are a few of those in Korea, despite breakfast usually for Koreans is soup and rice, it's hard to find breakfast places) And the big goal for some of the missionaries was to get the hand carved Korean nativity at Itawon. I was able to grab a couple for people who weren't able to get them at Christmas time. I was glad I got mine when I did because the price had jumped up about 60 dollars. We have a couple of new missionary couples and a single sister that have recently started serving here - but the exciting news is we have about five Korean Couples who are serving senior missions now and are going to help out in so many ways! We are so excited to see the Korean people stepping up to serve their members - I think the mission will really blossom with their knowledge and love and understanding of the culture!
Last week one of my Korean friends in our branch took me out for a hair therapy session! It was awesome! They want me to come every week for the next six months and think they can help stop my hair loss and possible regrow- but the time and money commitment is a little much - I am going to try and go every other week or so and see how it goes. I slept better the night after the treatments than I have slept in months! I don't know if you know, but Korea is world famous for it's plastic surgery and dermatology - so she is also going to take me for a facial and to do a skin check. I don't need any plastic surgery -- but I'm excited to have the facial! These are things I have been afraid to do myself because I don't speak the Language, so I am so happy Eunji is spending time with me - not to mention - she is a hoot! I love her family so much
I mentioned before about the zoom class we teach online. The ladies came and took us to lunch a month or so ago and the gentlemen in our class who goes by Johnny wasn't able to come so he came up a couple of weeks ago to take us to lunch. He also wanted to see one of the elders serving here in Pyeontaeck with us. It was so fun - he has been so kind to us! He has been taking this english class and investigating the church since 1991!! I asked him why he wasn't baptized because he loves the things we teach. He usually just jokes with us about it, but this time he got serious about it and said he doesn't want to break his mothers heart again. He was raised Catholic and when he did his conscription (Military service) he decided the Catholic church wasn't for him and it broke his momma's heart and he is afraid if he gets baptized it will break her heart all over again - but then he told me soon he would be baptized because he was twisting his mother's arm. I told him if his momma saw that the church would only strengthen him and his commitment to her, she would be ok. He said he would be baptized before I go home - we shall see - but baptized or not we love our Johnny, who calls us Elder Lowey and Sister Lowey!
We also have another friend from the Philippines that we were able to get close to rather quickly while she was here visiting her father. Her name is Arabea. She had many lessons and came to most of our activities and church while she was here. She says she loves that she sees the light of Christ in our church. We are praying for her to be baptized! Many of the Philippines come to Korea to work so they can send money home to their families. While her father Bryan was here he was introduced to the church a few years ago and comes faithfully and bears such sweet testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. She loves the changes she has seen in her father while he has been here in Korea. We are praying for her to be baptized. She may come back to Korea to be baptized. We shall see! While she was here I hosted a dinner with her family and a couple of the Philippine members that are here in Korea. It was a very special evening.
We have been teaching the Temple Prep classes to a couple in our ward who have been one of our miracle families. When they came to Korea, they had decided to look for a new church - but the Lord but several celestial collisions in their paths with us and the young missionaries and the members of the branch. She is now serving in the Primary Presidency and he is serving in the Elders Quorum Presidency. They are such a delight! He is from Viet Nam but went to high school in Nebraska and met his sweet wife! We love the Pham family!
We also just finished teaching Evelyn the temple prep classes. She was our friend who got baptized in October and now she is getting married in November in the temple! We are so happy for her!
Last Sunday we had a baptism for Prince William George from Pakistan. It was a very tender time - he is here as a refugee.
One of the other people we have had some close contact with is from Usbekistan. His name is Cody and he is going to school down in the Busan area and had met with. missionaries down there. Well he was up here for Christmas and came to one of our dinners and we were able to have a discussion about the plan of happiness/salvation. He was very interested. Well, I had kind of forgotten about that and he came back recently for his break from school and we had some more interactions and meals with him. He has been meeting with missionaries from our mission and missionaries from Busan mission. I am pretty sure he is about ready to be baptized. The Lord is just bringing these people to us from all corners of the earth. I never in a million years would have guessed I would have friends from Sri Lanka, Libya, Columbia, Philippines, Usbekistan, Taiwan, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Pakistan and Korea! It is an amazing experience to see the joy in their faces when they learn of Jesus Christ!
Our Last dinner with Kyce before he left for Alaska! We miss him already!
Our dinner with Arabea and her family
along with the missionaries
along with the missionaries
Our lunch with Johnny!Game Night playing left right center!
Elder Lowe enjoying the streets of KoreaBack to Home School club at the Library
Dinner with the Pham family before Temple PrepHappy Birthday Elder Lowe from the sisters
Pretty Sweet!Sister Lowe in the National Museum
The Gold Crown (Shamanism fertility crown)
Very Old pagoda transferred to the museumCeladon - very expensive green glazed stoneware
The Senior Missionaries on our tourDress from the Joseon Dynasty Period
Super Sweet Senior couple from Suwan helping in the mission
Elder Bradley from North Carolina, Elder Eden from Utah and Elder Lowe from Idaho
Our Last District meeting for Pyeontaeck - we are the largest district in the mission
Prince William George Baptismwith Elder Roque from Utah and Elder Squires from Arizona! They are a dynamic duo - we call them the Ying and the Yang!
A little touch of home with Ellie and Brooke - she is growing so fast and we are so grateful for video calls so she doesn't forget us! Hopefully, she will know us when we get back in September!
Finally reunited with our dear Elder Centano!
We were invited by our MCM leader to come to his home for a Korean BBQ - it was delightful. I made desserts and it was one of their childrens birthday and the sweet momma is pregnant and very sick so we had birthday cake for him a little early! This is the Mitchell family and he served his mission her about 19 years ago. He loves the Korean Culture and missionary work! We are blessed to know them!
More farewells with Kyce and the gang and the missionaries!
Family Night Shenanigans!
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