Ancient Korean guard attire at the gate of the Palace grounds.
Sister Sartori showing family pics to some cute young ladies who came up and started talking in English to us. We pulled out our pictures and when we showed our grandson, Andy, they asked how old? She said he is 16 years old - they squealed and said, "Phone number please!" Don't worry, Andy, you are safe! We don't remember your phone number!!!
Okay, this is on the Palace grounds also. This is where we missed our grandchildren!!! We sat down on the benches to rest and Sis. Sartori began feeding the pigeons. Small children began to gather one at a time and watch. We shared pieces of bread and with gestures showed how we were feeding them. What a delight.... we then sat back and enjoyed the children and birds. What a treat to see their smiles, their delight at a bird catching their crumb and sharing with their little sister or brother the fun! Yes, we missed our grandchildren!!!
Palace grounds with the modern city in the background. It kinda reminds us of Central Park in New York City!
We found this Palace on some beautiful grounds that had a museum and other artifacts on display with it. A cute little Korean man came up to us and offered as a volunteer to tell us about the history of this palace. It seems that it dates back to 1300-1400. Unique architecture.
WE FOUND COSTCO IN SEOUL, KOREA !!!! Elder Sartori got a little homesick when we went in this Costco. This Costco is three floors high or low! We put the shopping carts on an accomodating escalator and rode to the next floor. Elder Sartori and Elder Magill had an interesting ride as they tried figuring out if the carts were held in place with magnets, grooves or both!!!?? !! FASCINATING!
Here is a nice image to share. This is an older structure of obvious architectural beauty and it is in the middle of modern Seoul! We loved it!!!
This river is in the middle? of Seoul. Elder Goff at the temple said that when he was in Seoul 40 years ago (?time) this was an open canal of sewage. Look at the improvements! Wow! South Korea is doing well. The church members are growing and doing well. They use their temple. Sister Peck said that they come by bus, some start at early hours just to come and work in the temple all day on Saturdays...twice a month. They were so respectful, so humble. I loved walking by the people and bowing to them...what a nice gesture of respect.
This is our bus taxi to the plane. Wow, we had beautiful weather! Hot and humid, but beautiful!!
This is Elder and Sister Magill from Wisconsin. They are our "VISA BUDDIES". They are wonderful!! Totally wonderful!! Notice we are standing by a bus and see the airplane in the background? - the bus is going to load us up and drive the few hundred feet, we get off and board the airplane! Total Russia.
We have a hidden blessing!! Russia has us leave the country for Visa renewal and it is a great blessing!! We fly a short 2 hour flight to Incheon Korea Airport and then ride a 40 minute bus to the Seoul Korea Temple dormitory. We are blessed to stay in this beautiful place..the dormitory is actually downstairs and down a hallway from the Temple Entrance so it seems like we are in the temple!!! Heaven!! We're in Heaven every time we go there. Pres. Pratt gave us permission to stay two extra days, so we will share our adventures. Of course we did temple work, but also visited some of Korea. Seoul is huge!
