Back Yard

This is what are flowers look like now Me starting on yard work, but enjoying the flowers that I was working around

Not bad when you are cleaning out

around flower bushes

Pres. Kim with Mary

she made the cloth wall hangings behind up that seperate

the great room from the kitchenSister Training

I love when the sisters come in to the home.

Sister Jo (dark coat) came into be Sister Lee's

companion last transfer. Sister Lee cut her hair

to the bob as well, and like many of our sisters,

they find they tend to dress alike.

They look like twins now. rainy days are just fun

Elder McAuthur's parents came to pick him up. It was fun to meet them Grandma was delightful. She went skydiving for her 80th birthday present

Dinner with the Kim's

Pres. Kim is the first counselor in the mission presidency.

He is incredible....and his wife is delightful

We were invited to have dinner at their home last week.

We have not been in many homes, but this was my favorite.

They are building a small single unit home in the "countryside"

Single unit homes are not common here any more, but

many people would like to have one. It does require that

you move out of the city center however.

Sister Kim (Mary) used this space for her office, and after

closing her business, they changed it into their home.

It is wonderful.

After the hallway entrance, you are in a great room. These

wonderful chairs that she found brought from a business

that was closing. They are all hand carved as well as the

tables. Behind the chairs are glass patio doors that lead to

their enclosed porch. Almost all apartmemts have this feature.

The porch is a wall of glass on both sides, and is often used

for racks to dry your clothes,

(no one has a dryer in Korea)

Mary uses this space to store her food as well, but it is

all stored and arranged like a display that you would see at

a store or museum Kimchee pots holding her foods

were arranged along with fun

garden decor, even some sand and dirt to

give the feeling of an ourdoor garden.

I really would like my very own throne at home. Another fun use of her kimchee pots inside the great room Below is the entrance to the "office" turned home. One side is chests, the other side is garden items that hold her onions, bananas, apples and garden hats Pres. Kim and Mary lived in the US for several years

while he obtained his education. They returned to

Korea where is teaches at the university and she ran

a 'hogwon". Hogwons are private schools that teach classes

on any subject, but 90% are English hogwons. Her school was and included 30 teachers. One down side was that classes started at 6: a.m.

and different classes would be taught until 10:00 p.m.

Hogwons usually have classes for all levels and all ages. She next moved into this space where

she recuirted English teachers for these private schools.

When she decided to retire, the space became their temporary home. I hope to be able to spend more time with Mary.

It is a pity they do not live closer.

She loves gardening, I would like to just tag along with her and work in the garden as she taught me more about Korea. Delightful friends.

BIRTHDAY BASKET

At Zone conference we wish a happy birthday to those who are

celebrating birthdays. The basket contains mostly food items that I get from the

American base. Who would have thought a box of oatmeal would be a

prized item. A&W root beer is also a favorite.

We laughed that this picture may of shown just how each of us was feeling

as I turned the reins over to Sister Brunson Our wonderful Elder Kim

Pictures following our lunch with the

Cooks and Choi's

at the mission home

A day with Sister Cook

This was the sweet refreshment table they had prepared at the

church whenwe returned from sight seeing. So thougthful. At the Korean folk village we learned that these were kept outside the door of the house to scare off goblins. They were to place something under the metal screen covering and the goblin would spend all night trying to pick its way into the bottom. The sun would come up and the goblin would have to leave thus protecting the children This is a picture of FIRE DOG He spit out fire in the morning (sun is up) and swallow fire at night (sun is down) The village had huts and houses made with these type of roofs.

On the left...A sister from Seoul who traveled with the Cooks to translate

Sister Jung...a sweet lady in the stake who translates for me and invited us to

spend CHristmas Eve with their ward. She is beautiful.

Sister Koo...Elder Chois wife who has been so sweet and thoughtful to us

Sister Cook...what a fun visit I had with her

Oh, the tall one on the end .... me

Fun Picture

Autograph from Captain Moroni

At Zone conference Moroni came and was interviewed about

how he was able to help his people prepare for battle by

putting on the whole armor of God

Our wonderful new mission couple, the Brunsons

Dad and I LOVE this place. The main course is there in the center of the table

Starting with a leaf of lettuce, add rice, some meat, alittle hot sauce and

stuff it in before it all falls out

all for only $4.00 each

Christmas Eve

We were invited to join a local ward for their Christmas Eve Camping party.

They rent a nearby by condo outside of Daejeon and a bit up a mountain side.

This is the main room of the condo. It has a sink and cook top with several cabinets.

That is all. The two bedrooms have a closet that hold these big pink blankets which will serve as our beds. Everything is done on the floor, talking, playing games, cooking, eating.

It really does seem to make sense to Dad and I. Koreans do not devote any space to pieces of furniture that take up floor space. A coffee table would seem foolish.

Unlike this condo, a typical Korean home would have a small kitchen (that is on one wall of the main living area, a small kitchen table, a couch, a simple entertainment center to hold the TV, and one wall of bookshelves full of books especially for children. Those things would be in a main room like this.

This is a ward member who rode up with us. He taught at an university in USA so his English is very good. He was very much a part of the activities all night. He likes, almost insists that he be called Old Fogey. This is dinner. They BBQ their meat over a large grill, and eat outside in tents with plastic walls. It was so cold.

After dinner entertainment was Karaoke singing for the adults. The children watched movies downstairs, teenages played UNO in a room, and the adults sang. The lady in front is Sister Jong. She is my translator when I speak in the Daejeon area. She is delightful and very thoughtful to me. When I first met her, I was taken back by how beautiful she is. Several songs would come up on the screen in English so Sister Kim (who is just outside of this next picture...but is who I am pointing to) got me to sing Dancing Queen with her. You can see the reaction of everyone. I told them that I can be quite silly in my own language. The program scores you on how well you do. We scored 100.

Missionaries are in the habit of bed at 10:30, and this party was going strong, so we thanked everyone for a great evening and excused ourselves and drove home. My nice warm soft bed felt great.

Merry Christmas

Osaka

Food vendors outside the palace

The palace outside our hotel window