HEART AND SEOUL January 1 - January 8,2006

HEART

Dear Family,
We are a full week into the New Year 2006 of which both Janie & Lisa have enjoyed a birthday and Mike & Susan an anniversary and we rejoice in begining all over again the celebration of your lives.
For the first time in over a month, your parents have been to their English Branch church and were welcomed as if we had been gone for a very long time. Though we strongly felt the Spirit in the Korean ward next to our apartment, nothing quite compares with English language when that is your mother tongue. It did seem good to be back among the other friends we have made in our one years stay in Korea.
We know the next six months will speedily come to an end and we will be making preparation to return to our home and family. Having tasted a time of ill health, the desire and determination to remain well is strongly implanted in our minds. In many ways those periods of distress can strengthen ones resolve and help us to more deeply appreciate our usual good health. As some of you have visited the cabin and given reports of it's well being, we extend our appreciation for this reassurance and increasingly look forward to giving it TLC and view with optimism for this brand New Year of 2006.


SEOUL

Nancy, welcome to the world of missionary mothers! You and Jeff are about to experience what all of your siblings have gone through many times. We prescribe no medicine nor balm nor bandages to relieve the anguish you will experience, but can assure you that the blessings in a short time will heal all of the hurt of sending a son or daughter into the mission field. No college can rival the education he will derive from the next two years as he serves in the far off country of Spain.
Our mission experiences have given us added empathy as we mingle with young men and women who come from the marvelous homes of faithful Latter Day Saints. We see the good they do, the converts they baptize but more importantly we witness the growth and maturity in their own lives that is excellerated in these two years of dedicated service; as each of you have seen as you have been missionaries and sent missionaries into the field. Interestingly enough, we are still being educated. We continue to learn more about ourselves and come to understand our Heavenly Father better and Seoul has particularly given us a Masters Degree in "People Loving."

A cute antedote: Elder Krause, an assistant to the President, and his companion, Elder Mitchell, spent the better part of that first day at the hospital. Your fathers clothes were sent home with your mother but Elder Krause took his shoes, which are nearly as old as he is. The shoes were returned in a Christmas package with a shine they had not seen even when they were brand new. He must have spent hours on them. He leaves for home this week having completed a highly successful mission.