HEART AND SEOUL April 16 - April 23, 2006

HEART April 16 - 23rd, 2006

Dear Family,
We concluded teaching our last lesson in the Gospel Principles class today. We counted five Korean, three French and four Americans including ourselves. Thankfully one of our Americans interpreted for the Koreans and one of the French for the French. Out of the group it appears that several are anticipating baptism.
As we have mentioned Jinsook, our young Korean student will be flying to America tomorrow for her beginning year at BYU. Dan & Ann will pick her up at the airport and be her host for a few days before they take her to Provo. This will fill in the space of her arrival time in America and her accommodations availability at the Y. She follows in the way that so many young Koreans do at the sacrifice of their parents who send them away to college at great personal expense. Jinsook is a personable, pretty, talented young women who has a sister of Olympic quality diving abilities. Her mother works in the laundry at the temple and has become a good friend.
As always, the reports from home this past week have been "heartwarming" for us and we often ponder upon the love within our families and the joy to have such a righteous posterity.


SEOUL


After a two week temple cleaning period, we are anxious to return to our duties on Tuesday. During this time we have traveled to the east coast of Korea and this past week spent time mostly at museums. Our trip last Wednesday was to the Korean Folk Village which is a "must see" attraction for tourists. Several hundred acres have been devoted to the early Korean way of life. It includes many acts of entertainment as well as the portrayal of Korean life and could be likened to the counterpart of America's Williamsberg. The day began chilly and after an hour and a half drive to our destination, the rain began and continued throughout our visit there. To say the least, it "dampened" our enthusiasm and we were only encouraged on by the typical thousands of school children who thought we were as much an odity as anything there. In spite of the rain we had an enjoyable time observing the early culture of the Korean people.
Another day was spent at the brand new National Museum of Korea opened just this year. Of greater interest to us than even most of the exhibits, though they were good, was the magnificent building and the immense undertaking to build such an edifice. All the walls inside and out were of marble and glass and was more extensive than energy allowed us to fully view even though we spent "many" hours there.
Monday is the traditional day off in Korea and most of these places are closed on our preparation day so this has been time well spent for us in this temple close down.