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Stories: Korea - by Vearl H. Taylor

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Korea - by Vearl H. Taylor 13 Jun 2003

VEARL TAYLOR




(SEE MORE PICTURES BELOW [AT BOTTOM]) 





Dear Friends



As you can see, time is running out to share some memories of my mission in Korea.



I have given considerable thought to what I could add to this book.



I have read and enjoyed the book KOREAN SAINTS and other accounts of things that happened in bringing the church to where it is today.



This is where I get nervous about what to say, because of my lack of writing skills and the fact that everyone sees things from a different angle.



While we were in Korea, we experienced some serious illness. It hit all the Elders to a different degree. President Andrus scheduled a meeting in Seoul with the Elders, and since there had been so much sickness we knew that this would be discussed.



It was rumored that the mission might be closed.



I knew that I was really sick. The doctor at the German Red Cross Hospital, Dr. Buck, who was the past president of the international medical assoc. and was in Korea doing research on internal disorders, had told me that my liver was badly damage and I could possibly die. He further stated that if I wanted to see my folks again, I should leave Korea immediately.



One day, as I was taking my companion, Elder Rulon Porter for a checkup for his hepatitis, the Doc looked at me, and immediately admitted ME to the hospital!



I asked for a blessing at the hospital



I had GREAT respect for Elder Newell E. Kimball, so Elder Porter went back to our apartment and got Elder Kimball and together they gave me a blessing in which Elder Kimball very strongly said,"The Lord would bless me to the end that I would finish my mission in Korea and my health would be restored."



However when Dr. Buck got the tests back, he told me that I had to leave Korea. It wasn't an option to stay longer!


That was a VERY dark hour in Korea and the Devil really put forth an effort to stop the Gospel from spreading. From that hospital bed, I saw people die every day in the beds next to me. After the meeting in Seoul where all of the missionaries had strongly born their testimonies of faith and their desire to serve the Lord in Korea, I was honored with a visit from the brethren and the confirmation we were staying and then and only then did I know that President Andrus didn't come to close the mission, but to help us take stock in our lives and finish what we were asked to do.



Each missionary, at that time was hand picked to go to Korea.



When I arrived in Japan I was sent to Kanazawa City (Shi) where I labored with Elder Makoto Fukuda. I really loved it there and we had a beautiful home to live in. I believe it was the Noda home.



The city had many parks and was so clean. The members made me feel like I was home. After a couple weeks, Elder Fukuda received a telegram to call President Andrus. We couldn't guess what he wanted because we both were new to the area.



I was told I was to come back to Tokyo. President Andrus told me that he had felt when he interviewed me on arrival that I should go to Korea. When the members heard that I was going to Korea they held a wake to mourn my death.



We had many good esperiences in Kanazawa, but after I received my call to serve in Korea, I never looked back, something inside felt warm and even to this day, it is still there.



When the plane left Japan, the pilot tipped his wing so we could see Mt. Fuji where Elder David Strebe, Elder Shumway, Elder Pope, Elder Ashman, Elder Adams, a civil service brother George Pencock, and I had climbed a few days before.



That was when I knew that I was hiking with a special spirit in Elder David Strebe, because of all his breathing problems, we saw the sunrise from atop Fuji. That was a real test of endurance, but what an experience!



We started at 3:30 PM and Elder Strebe and I arrived the top of Mt. Fuji at 3:15 AM. The sun rose at 4:30 AM. That was a great sight. It was so cold, that even to advance the film in my camera I put it inside my coat.



On our arrival at Seoul International Airport, I was shocked back from my sweet rememberances of Japan, to reality. Kim Po had one small Quonset shed. I had seen larger ones on farms back home. Elder Strebe and I were still wearing hats suits and ties. The crowd that stood before us had white yellowish shirts with sleeves rolled up and no hats, yet in this group was supposed to be the missionary Leaders of the Korean District. This is where humility set in.



This was not a pretty sight compared to what we had just left.



We sort of drifted with the group towards customs when a Korean man took us by the arm and walked us right by the customs inspectors and out the door. This had to be important man!



He took us to some unkempt Americans. One claimed to be Elder Dean M. Andersen, who, looking back I can say was one of the best dressed missionary in Korea. We were introduced to Dr. Kim, Ho Jik. He was the important man! He was a chosen man with only the Lord's purposes as his life's goals.



Elder Gail Carr was the next Elder we met and though we thought it was going to like Tokyo and he was going to interview us and tell us the pleasantry of what we were going to do, but the picture was not very colorful.



We actually learned that Elder Claude Newman had frozen his toes just trying to get water to our house on the hill (Yurak Dong).



He told us that the first thing we were to concern ourselves with was to protect our health. We wouldn't be any good to the Lord if we were careless with our health.



He said he was glad we were there, because the fleas seemed to like new blood and wouldn't bite the old missionaries as bad. He was right, one day while getting adjusted to the food I counted 630 bites on the area of my body I could see.



Elder Dean Andersen was my senior companion and since he wrote our language books, I received a lot of help and encouragement with converting from Japanese.



I was able to help move the district office to Sam Chun Dong. It was a nice area, with the back wall against the wall of the President Rhee palace compound. Out of our house back door, was a monastery . The Monks would bong a large cymbal at sunrise. Our chapel had a dirt floor and hand made benches, but it seemed very light inside and spacious. All this changed before i came back to work there.



We held a district meeting and the Elders from Pusan came up by train. Of the first 11 missionaries assigned to labor in the korean District, 7 were present. Elders Powell, Denton, Fletcher, and Lee, Young Bum had been released.



These Elders were like a rock. You couldn't tell them from a kid with an ice cream cone. There was a comradeship that I haven't witnessed again in my life. It seemed they had spent their whole lives together and couldn't ask to be in better company. If they lived to 150 years old, they would still be there for each other. They talked about the Elders that had returned home and they knew what they were doing. Even Elder Strebe just fit in because of his tour in the US Army. To be with such an elite group was an honor.



I was transferred to Pusan. It's hard to explain this trip, because most of us do not remember when cattle were shipped by trains and the openness that the cattle had. However human comfort was not built in. But still, it was a beautiful ride. The sky was so blue and the air was fresh.



The country was so well kept. Every inch was farmed.



We saw the people with all forms of transportation, walking with huge loads on their heads and ox pulling carts, men with A frames packing 55 gal drums.



Then it happened, everything went black! These were coal-fired engines pulling us. When you go through a tunnel for miles(longer than you can hold your breath) things get pretty black and the steam mixed with coal smoke made a sort of paste that sure stuck on you. It was an experience that we had each time the Elders met for conferences.



The countryside was beautiful and everyone of us wished that we could teach the people there. Every time we would pass through Tae Gu, Elder Kimball would say he dreamed of opening a branch there. All of us were from rural areas and liked the rural areas of Korea, but all in good time.



Elder Larry D. Orme and Elder Newman were companions. Elder Newell E. Kimball was my senior and also the Branch President. This was a new experience and because of the extra workload Elder Kimball just worked longer.



Elder Orme was from Squirrel, Idaho where lived on a cattle ranch. He would ride for days and not return home to sleep. So he was accustomed to the sleeping arraignments we had there.



There was two cots and room on the floor for two sleeping bags. Naturally the junior companions slept on the floor where it was the warmest, because the furry creatures that played there at night would keep your blood moving.



Elder Kimball was a very good trainer for junior companions. I wasn't able to do everything right, so at night when we would have nightly personal prayers we would kneel on our beds.



Elder Kimball would kneel on his cot which from my position on the floor, would silhouette him in the large window by his bed. After I would finish my prayers I would notice that he would still be praying and I would faintly hear my name mentioned. I figured he was asking for help in getting me on the right path. Each day I would try hard to do better at everything he would ask me to do.



One night everybody was finished praying and were sleeping, but Elder kimball was still kneeling and going strong.



Man I must have been a bad boy that day! After about a half an hour later, I knew I wasn't that bad, so I reach up and touched him. He jumped, snorted and calmly said Amen and went to sleep!



Elder Orme and I went to Chin Hae on the west side of Korea on the Yellow Sea. We had to leave at 4:00 in the morning by bus to get there.



We had 4 baptizms and blessed Brother Hong's baby. We had a wonderful meal before we headed back. It was a REAL Korean meal, not watered down for missionaries. As I ate, I realized that I was burnning up and that sweat was running down my face and my suit coat was showing sweat marks at the shoulder seams. We hadn't eaten since early that morning, so I kept eating. Finally, I thought I should ask Elder Orme what to do as my mouth felt like it might blister.



When I looked at him, I realized that he had the same problem and maybe worse! Finally Brother Hong came to the rescue with some boiling hot water. Now I know what it means to "fight fire with fire" because it worked!



I will never forget that day, so much happened and under unusual circumstances. The 4 people who were baptized had to be released from prison where Bother Hong had converted them!



I believe his baby was the first baby to be blessed in Korea, and if I am correct Brother Hong and his wife were the first members to be married in the church. He was a very strong member and lived and taught the gospel everywhere he went.



They had several places that they held church meetings in before I arrived in Pusan.



The last one, before the Kindergarten was a bath house! Elder Kimball told many stories about those days. I hope he takes time to recount them for this record.



The kindergarten was by the waterworks for that part of Pusan.



We lived in a home that was by the actual school. We had a small room to sleep in.



There was a small room for the maid . Then we had a kitchen and a small meeting room. Elder Kimball worked on getting hot water run into the bathroom. We were close to the Cathlolic church and our maid, Sister Coe was a member of theirs.





One time Elder Kimball was asking her how she kept our food cost down so low and she explained that she just turned us in as her 4 boys and they gave her staples. I realize that changed later, but with the difficult time I was having getting my money from home it really helped. I even sold my camera to meet expenses.



Everybody wanted to be able to convert Sister Coe to the gospel. She was a saint! When I was sick she was Dr. Mom. She would rub my back as I would lose even the lining of my stomach!



One night as Elder Kimball and I were teaching a cottage meeting in a classroom, we could hear Sister Coe saying her rosary out loud in sort of a chant. She had done it before, but this time Elder Kimball told me to continue the lesson he would go talk to her. In a few minutes he returned, but the noise continued. I leaned over and asked him what happened? He said that she was reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese.



After I left Pusan she was baptized.



Pusan was a city that was shaped like a horseshoe and the center was a large mountain. In our tracking area, they were digging a tunnel to connect the two sides and we would stop and talk to the supervisor when we saw him. One day he said if we came back in a couple days we could be the first Americans to go through.



So we went back and sure enough the tunnels had met but the bottom of our side was the top of the other side!


I never got back to Pusan after I left but I have always wonder how it turned out???



Elder Kimball was a interesting person to be around. You would never know what was going to happened. He was a most talented guitar player. He would transpose an hymn to the guitar and play the melody for our church meetings.



One day while we were tracting, he stopped and we went several blocks away. He had heard a piano playing and we held a cottage meeting there in that house. He said 'The Lord will provide, but we must listen'!



Another time we had finished a cottage meeting return and were heading back to the home when he said 'we need to stop here'. We taught a lesson to to a lady that was roasting sesame seeds. The nose, knows he would say.



After my time in the hospital, I felt good about my progress with the language and my lesson presentation, but President Andrus felt that the living condition were better in Seoul, so I was transferred back to Sam Chang Dong to work with Elder Dean Andersen again.



It was real nice. We would split the lesson up and it made it interesting for the contacts. A lot of things happened in that year and a half.



Elder Andersen was District Leader and I was Central Branch President. We held joint street meetings with Yurak Dong missionaries. Some missionaries would talk about the church and we and other members, would pass out tracts and schedule cottage meetings.



This method helped to interest older people. I worked with the greatest people! Some of which I had helped teach and baptize and watch them become leaders in our branch.



Some I have since met here in America and how proud I am to know them! Many others I pray I will meet again.



My life was truly shaped by the experiences I had serving there and in closing I would like to relate my love for the pioneers of Korea.



First Dr. Kim, Ho Jik who was the first member I met at Kim Po airport and was a shield and protector to all of the Elders that served under him. When he become ill, I thought he would rise and continue to do his work because both the Korean government and the church needed him. The Elders in Seoul were called to administer to him. Elder Brown was asked to be voice for the sealing and the blessing.



As we gathered around his bed and waited for the blessing, it seemed like a long time before Elder Brown gave a short blessing and left the room almost in tears and he said that he couldn't say what we all wanted hear but just a blessing of comfort.



Within moments the doctors told us Dr. Kim had passed on. There was a void of huge proportion left behind. The Lord had a plan and it didn't falter.



2. Brother Kum. His first name was Ba UL. It is two names but it sounds like Paul.



He was a lawyer in Pusan and was matured in the church and truly loved the gospel. He was like a grandfather in our branch. Everybody would listen to him. He had the gospel in Japanese and read everything available, which we didn't have in Korean. At that time, we only had a Joseph Smith Story tract. 



Our language book was written by Elder Dean Andersen. There were no Korean song books, just sheet music hymns.



This Lawyer bailed Elder Kimball and I out of jail. We were suspects in robbing the Bank of Korea! As they locked us up, Elder Kimball saw a student of ours and asked him to get help from the branch. Brother Kum came and got us out. They later caught and imprisoned two sailors.



3. Sister Kim Do Pil was another of the mature and stable matrons. She nurtured the sisters in the gospel, but her dinners would lift the hearts of the homesick and hungry Elders.



As the sisters came into the gospel they were introduced to all of the services of the Relief Society. I'm sure she did many good things and was of service all of her life.



As I look through my journal and see what I wrote and remember what I didn't write, I thank the Lord for the privilege I had to serve in Korea.



January,1957 called by Bishop Ralph A. Mc Combs, 2 Feb 1957 by President Davis Green, 3 Feb 1957 Elder Henry D. Moyle, 22 Feb 1957 to the Northern Far East Mission (somewhere by Maine or Newfoundland), Oh how little I knew then!



Vearl H. Taylor







Front row left to right. Newel Kimball, Claude Newman, Elder

Fletcher, Dean Andersen, Back row left to right. Gail Carr, Don Powell,

President Andrus, Elder Denton, Larry Orme.







Front row left to right.Japnese investigator, Elder Lowell Ashman, Vearl Taylor, Karl Pope(Oriental Hat)

Back row left to right David A. Strebe, Norm Shumway, John Adams (Dec'd)







Train ride to Pusan Elder Gail Carr (left) and Elder Larry D. Orme

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