HEART AND SEOUL Aug. 21 - 27, 2005

HEART

Elder William Walker, President of this Asian Area attended the temple this past week for the purpose of a thorough temple review with the President of the temple, his counselors and those responsible for all of the temple functions. We were among those interviewed and found President Walker a most efficient, kind and personable individual. He came from Raymond, Alberta, Canada and we discovered he was the nephew of your fathers roommate at BYU, Glen Walker, who though retired became a prominent surgeon in California and now is living in Orem.
Not that we would be otherwise, but for two or three days we were all on our best behavior as President Walker reviewed the ordinance work including a sealing session.
He held a special meeting for sealers. There were sixteen of the eighteen sealers in Korea in attendance. Then a lunch was provided in the temple presidents home and to make Pres. Walker feel more comfortable among all of the Koreans, your father was seated at the head table next to him. This group of sealers represented the "elete" past and present leaders of the church in Korea.

SEOUL

As we have described in the past, we step out of the temple grounds onto a small street leading to our part of down town. There are shops of every kind, clothing, butchers, bakeries and huge department stores. On the way to any of these every few feet is a space occupied by venders of every nature. We find it interesting that we purchase from one of them and they remember you next time. Last week we went into the jewelry department and had them size the band of a new $10. watch that we purchased in Dundamun. When we returned to pick it up they graciously bowed and said, no charge. Previously we had purchased a watch battery from this same individual. We walked up the street and a little old lady had her vegetables displayed upon the sidewalk and we bought tomatoes and apples from her. Remembering that we had been there before she threw in an extra fruit we don't even know the name of. A little further up the street we stopped in our Kodak shop where by now they know us from our frequent patronage and picked up prints we had made from our digital camera. Our next stop Green Street Market, where we are greeted kindly, if not humorously by several of the store employees. Our last stop is at the dry cleaners, a little shop tucked away off the main street, where we bring in our dry cleaning and pointing out the things we want done she points on the calander when it will be done and we leave without a receipt and whoever is there when we return knows exactly what clothes are ours.
You can well imagine how a taller than average white haired American with his equally caucasian wife must stand out like sore thumbs as we walk down the street among all the black haired, almond-eyed orientals. We must be quite an oddity to them.