New District and Sister Leaders

Elders Krall, Bailey and Hansen

Sisters Henrie and Moffat (missing Sister Koo)

Elders Cox, Sadler and Jeong (missing Elder Greene)

Every zone has from 2-4 districts and each district has from 4-10 missionaries. District leaders have many responsibilities such as supervising, teaching and inspiring the missionaries in his district, planning and conducting weekly meetings, interviewing baptismal candidates and generally looking after the well being of the missionaries of his stewardship.
Sister leaders responsibilities include coordinating sister exchanges, promoting harmony and setting an example through obedience, hard work, proselyting skills and other aspects of missionary work.
These leaders are key to the success of the mission!

July Zone Leader Council

Zone leaders met for an all day planning session for the upcoming zone conferences. It's a great day of bonding and a spiritual uplift to discuss needs, ideas and goals and to help keep the mission moving in the upward trend.
Front to back, L to R:
Elders Ha Yeong Woo, Baek Seung Ik, Haycock, Cha Yo Na, Byun Chang Ki (AAP), Bergeron (AP), Kim Hui Jae, Cianflone, Hill, McWhorter, McCort, Lyman (AP), Adams, Pres. Perriton

Farewell

Left to Right: Elders Hong Gwang Jin, Wilcox, Bae Seong Jin, Richter, Lee Jae Won, Clegg, Thiel, Kim Jong Chul and Sisters Lim Eun Sol, Lee Da Rae and Mabray.
How we love them so! It's hard to say goodbye, but I know we will meet again!

The evening before the departing missionaries head up to Seoul we have a farewell dinner together at the mission home. They arrived in the mission together and sometimes they have not seen each other again except on the rare occasion of a whole-mission meeting such as when Elder Scott visited in April. Sometimes they may serve their whole mission without serving in the same zones and so this end- of -mission dinner party is a wonderful reunion for them.

Awesome New Missionaries!

Left to Right: Elders Treuhaft, Chamberlain, Bullen, Dickson, Boothe, Gardner. Sisters Bourgeous, Chartier, Alder

Ready to head out to their first areas with their trainers:
Top row L to R: Elders Bullen, Taylor, Boothe, Saunders, Chamberlain, Ence
Row 2: Elders Gardner, Skabelund, Hansen, Dickson, Treuhaft, Robinson
Row 1: Sisters Bourgeous, Henrie, Blazzard, Chartier, Alder, Moffat

We fit 28 pieces of luggage into the mission van when we picked the new missionaries up from the airport! They rode back to Daejeon by bus with the AP's.

Everyone enjoyed the yummy traditional meal at our favorite neighborhood restaurant. Elder Dickson loved it so much he was reluctant to leave!

Nine wonderful new Elders and Sister arrived this week, so full of excitement and wonder. It's the rainy season and on their first full day here they go out to proselyte for a few hours and have already experienced getting soaked by warm rain! Umbrellas don't help much when the wind is strong! They are so happy to be here, they think everything is great!

Heart Attack

I came home to a really fun surprise the other day. The AP's snuck into my house while I was out and decorated my kitchen! They spent a good bit of their precious Preparation Day looking up "heart" related scriptures, cutting out the hearts (there are 63 of them - and no, that's not my age or anything!) and even arranging the creative countertop design. I was deeply touched
by their loving thoughtfulness!

From Long Ago and Far Away

We had another wonderful visit last week from former missionaries. Martine Shelton (from Down Under) and Kim Hae Sook rented a car and went on a road trip all over the country. I'm so glad they stopped to say hello. It was so fun to spend a little time together! Sister Caroline Chong was our Ponbu (mission offiice) girl for a bit while recovering from an illness.

Hello Again!

After saying goodbye 2 months ago to a wonderful missionary, zone leader, AP and friend, what a fun surprise it was to hear Jun Seung Chul's voice and then enter the room and see him! We were both visiting the Daechon Branch where he served for 7 months of his mission. I was sorry not to get the picture taken before he had changed out of his shirt and tie, but the face I love is just the same, so happy and full of joy!

Missionary Quotes

This area became the “refiners fire” of my mission. I learned two important things: 1- we as missionaries determine how the area goes, if we talk bad about an area, it will be passed on as bad. If we talk good about it, it will be passed on in a good way. 2- If we think that we can do it, we can. These are sometimes obvious lessons but they became especially real to me as I experienced them. As we began to raise the level as to how the work was done in this area, I found myself constantly light and happy. We continued to be obedient, have positive attitudes, and work as hard as we could. This soon became my favorite, busiest, and most successful area. I am so thankful for the influence of the Spirit telling me to be positive and give it my best.

Ever since our new sister missionary stood up and introduced herself I couldn’t stop staring at her. I knew I knew her somehow. She told her story, and I started putting things together. When I was a greenie we taught her! Our transfer goal was to have her get baptized but she moved to a different area. We were really sad when she moved. Now she’s on a mission! I couldn’t believe it! That just goes to show that we can never know how far our influence will go and it’s impossible to measure success. The Lord has a plan for all of his children.

Planning! Wow, what a difference. For all of our jondo (proselyting) times scheduled, next to it we put a goal, and did our best to reach that goal in that allotted time. It all added up and before we knew it we were writing down 140+ on our contact column! The first time that’s happened on my mission, and it feels great. It’s like President Monson says in Preach My Gospel, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” Through measuring our stats at smaller increments, breaking them down, we’ve seen performance improvement! Therefore, our success rate should accelerate! What a concept!

I had a wonderful experience this week. At the end of one our lessons our investigator prayed for the first time and it was so wonderful to be there. I could feel the Spirit and I could feel God’s love for her so strongly. I knew Heavenly Father was happy and pleased. Here was His daughter praying to Him – communicating with him for the first time. I know He heard her prayer as simple as it was. Why wouldn’t a loving Heavenly Father listen with rapture to His daughter’s prayer? And then, why wouldn’t He answer one of his children’s prayers? Of course He will! It was wonderful to feel His love for her in that moment.

The work here is really picking up. I love this area! The ward is so good to us and to our investigators. The Lord is opening doors for us to do this work here. I love this work so much!

Meet the Parents

It is always such a joy to meet family members of some of our beloved missionaries. Sometimes they come to pick up their son or daughter at the end of their mission. Others return together (when the weather is nice) at a later time to share precious memories and to get acquainted with some of the people missionaries have come to love so much. For those inclined to see the culture and feel the atmosphere where their missionary has served, it is a rich and rewarding experience.
We discourage planning elaborate trips that would require a currently serving missionary to be distracted in their work to become "travel agents". We feel it is important that missionaries "sprint to the finish line" - for their personal satisfaction as well as to keep the ball rolling smoothly when they transition out of their last area. When family members choose to come we request that they make their own initial travel and accomodation arrangements. The mission office can help with some recommendations if needed.