HEART AND SEOUL Nov. 6-13, 2005

HEART
Dear Family,
We received the fun news today that Matt & Debbie's new baby will be a boy, scheduled to be born April 1st, seventy-eight years after his great grandfather. As welcomed as all of the other babies have been, this will be the first to carry on the Hymas name. Adding to the fun, is that he will be the first great grandson of the our oldest grandson of our oldest son and will be the first to carry on our name. Good work Matt and Debbie, just don't feel obligated in naming him Harold Vardell.
Today we finished our temple preparation class and of the eight members, it appears all eight will be attending the temple in the near future. Two of them are Americans, three are Korean and three are from the Phillipines. Our diverse culture here is always amazing and shows that when people anywhere are touched by the gospel, their lives become sweet and charming as these people have proved to be.

SEOUL

Yesterday was one of the busiest days we have seen at the temple with five new endowments, large attendance from several stakes and sealings of children to parents. Also a returned missionary being sealed to his sweetheart, likewise a returned missionary who following their honeymoon, will return to their studies at BYU Hawaii.
The parents of the bride and groom are active temple attenders. The brides father being a wealthy stake president and the grooms father is one of the sealers.
We with the other temple missionaries were invited to attend their"traditional Korean reception". We had heard somewhat of these receptions but were not prepared for the pomp and ceremony that we witnessed. In one of the most beautiful new buildings in Korea, several stories high, and used almost exclusively for such occasions was the Air Force Club. Then in a huge reception room that accommodated close to a thousand people the bride and groom re-enacted a civil marriage ceremony for the benefit of the many people invited. (Their temple ceremony of course, included only family.) There were at least four photographers and many costumed attendants performing their many duties. If any of you have seen such movies as the "Wedding Planner" such events would have pailed before this extraveganza. The mothers were dressed in a typical Korean hum-bak dresses and the fathers in silk tuxedoes. The bride and groom looked like a couple out of royalty and were beautiful.
Knowing your father and coming in almost late, spotted chairs up front so he led the group to vacant chairs just behind the grooms parents. One touching scene of this ceremony, uncommon in our culture, the mothers preceded the groom & then the bride and her father, up the quilted fabric runway. Ceremoneously they bowed to one another before they were led to their place of honor to view the ceremony. The groom payed honorable respect to both the bride's parents and his parents as well as the invited guests, by a kneeling bow so deeply, he touched his head to the floor. Though not planned, a sweet little girl ran from the audience to hand the bride a hanky to wipe away her joyful tears.
We felt like guests of honor among the nearly one hundred per cent Korean guests. We were at a vantage point that enabled us to acknowledge to the parents our thanks for being invited.
Thinking this was the end of our adventure, we were then taken to another floor of the building for a complete buffet type dinner. Three long tables close to one hundred feet, were laden with Korean delicacies. By now we have learned the kind of foods to avoid but still lacked room on our plates to experience some new delicacies.
Of all the guests there, it became quite apparent that a great many of them were patrons we have come to recognize from their occasional to frequent attendance at the temple and we truly felt honored to be in their company.
On our way home your father commented to our driver that it must have cost fifty thousand dollars and he smiled and said it would tripple that. Don't get the impression that all Korean saints could afford that, but a few can. It was a "night to remember" for us.