May 11, 2026
It has been a while since I have caught up with everything that is happening here in Osan! So much has happened - I don't really know where to begin. So I think I will just start with the pictures and see where it leads me! I wish I could motivate myself to keep a better journal. I am still working on becoming more of a Mary than a Martha - but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks! I notice a lot of my pictures look like a trip instead of a mission - but we have had some amazing experiences. We have a lot of good experiences while eating good food - and it seems to be a tradition with missionaries to take photos of the food they eat - so I realize I have sent many food pictures - but have no fear - they bring amazing relationships - I really believe much of the time the way to a persons heart may be through their stomach!
The below pictures were our conference weekend. When you live half way around the world you literally are living in the future - so when you in America watch general conference the first weekend of April - in Asia the next weekend is set apart for General Conference. We have been watching them as soon as we can but we also host a conference meal together in our home. We had our new convert Prince William George attend with us. He is from Pakistan. He is a darling man and asked me to pray for him to find a wife! We also had our friend TJ and August come and watch a session with us. It was a new experience for them. We had one of our young men also come.
I had to take this picture - because after a few sessions of conference it's easy to drift into a celestial nap! This is Elder McBride. He served here last summer with us and now he is finishing his mission here with us.
We seem to be increasing our numbers at bowling night! It's the first step of love share and invite! We have made many friends ofother faiths. We love just sharing our time with them. We see ourselves as ambassadors of good will for our church! Our hope is they will be able to feel the love of Christ when they are with us. Many have touched our lives deeply. We hope we will be able to maintain contact with them over the years - one of the good things about social media!
This is our friend Stephanie, we met her at the Newcomers briefing. She is a nurse and does the medical briefing and Elder Lowe does the Red Cross briefing. We finally were able to go to dinner and take her out for Bingzu! It was a fun evening. She was able to come to our home for Easter. She and Elder Lowe share a love of Alaska - so as you can imagine they have had quite the connection.
We have been helping the library with home school club the last year. This is our friend Sophia and her momma. They usually do a lesson with Miss Alma and then we help with the crafts. It has been fun meeting the home school families.
Below is a picture of my sweet friend from our branch. She is Korean and married an american airman. She has been helping me learn a little of the culture and some of it's specialties. She took me to this hair therapy place and she also took me for a skin lifting facial. I would not have been brave enough to try either of these on my own. This was really a fun day. The ladies in the branch have been so good to me and included me on many adventures. It's hard to think I am old enough to be their mother. It makes me nervous for going back home when I will be part of the "empty nester club". I really enjoy doing things with these ladies and watching them raise their families! They show me lots of love and respect. I don't know if I have met my purpose here as a military relations missionary but I sure have made lifelong friends that will always hold a piece of my heart! I wish I had time to tell you a little bit about all of them.but I am so far behind on my blog that I better just stick to an overview.
Every district council before transfers we take a picture and go to lunch together as a missionary district. I have really loved these days as I watch them interact and enjoy one another.
So as military relations missionaries, we try to make ourselves available wherever there may be a need for volunteers. This spring the base thrift shop has gone through a major overhaul.. We try to spend at least a couple of hours there every week. We took the young sisters with us and they spent the whole time hanging and sorting hours - with big smiles on their faces. This is Sister Christensen from Pleasant Grove, Utah and Sister Clark from Georgia. They are delightful. Very aware of time commitments and being obedient.
If you have followed my blog from the beginning you may remember when we talked about the Four Chaplains Ruck march last year. We volunteered all night and I was actually on the Korean National news as I was cheering the runners on at a water stop. This year because of my back injury, I didn't think I could make it but Elder Lowe still went and supported. It really is a pretty cool thing they do. It was done earlier this year and later in the early morning so it wasn't quite as intense but still a rigorous activity for a volunteer.
A group of some of the volunteers. It takes nearly 160 volunteers to pull this off.
So for one of our transfers we went down South to pick up Sister Rivera who served with us last summer. She had finished her mission with honor and we picked her up and took her to the mission office. The picture below is of a pagoda toll booth. I thought it was pretty cool.
Sister Rivera and her roommates. I think they are really going to miss her!
So last year when we arrived in Korea we were in culture shock and didn't have a clue what we needed to do or how to get around. Well, Sister Lacee Burrell on the far right of this picture was our mission mom and helped us adjust to mission life. Elder Will McBride (third from left) came a transfer later and worked with us as well and helped us know things that might work for us on the base. Well Sister Burrell came back to Korea with her parents and invited us to have dinner with them and meet her parents and the fun thing was Elder McBride had been transferred back to Pyeontaeck, (The pyeontaeck elders live in the same apartment as the Osan Elders) and was able to come with us to dinner. Our friend Thilan form Sri Lanka is the first on the left. Sister Burrell was instrumental in his conversion. He was baptized the day we landed in Korea.
I believe I already shared pictures and stories of our senior trip to the Korean Folk Village. While we were there, our dear Sister Gooding, one of the office missionaries bought this hanbok - only she bought a green top. Sister Meyet and Myself decided we wanted one as well so it was custom made for us. We have decided this will be a fun thing to wear to a mission reunion together. I also feel like I can wear this to church easier than the other one I had made.
My little friends who left this month to go back to the states. I found the St Patricks day dress for her at the thrift shop and she looked so cute I had to take a picure. They have moved back into my old Stake in West Point.
One of the fun treats here is fish bread. The only similarity it has to fish is it's shape - it's just a sweet bread, shaped like a fish with a custard or bean mixture stuffed inside. We have a booth by our apartment. When I say this lady with her fish hat on selling them at the market in Seoul, I had to take a picture!
I have put off blogging for awhile but I have so many more memories to share so I will finish this one now so it doesn't go on and on and put more info in the next post.
Oh and I forgot to tell you about Shin. He has been investgating the church for abour four years. He was baptized. He has a very cool story and is going to be a great leader for his people. He is from Congo and his wife is from Zambia. She is not quite ready for baptism yet but she is contemplating it. I feel sad because I forgot to get a picture of him.
Comments
Post a Comment