Dear father and mother:
q
Bajikkol,   Seoul,
Februa rv 12,   1930.
Althoughoit is a  little late in the evening-to be  starting
g  letter,   I must at least write a little.f Have  just^come back from
prayer meeting.    Hpw the.days  slide x by with  so little done*.     Over a
wijole week agp,   on Feb. %,  mother' s!letter!of Jan.  12 came,    in it
you mentioned  father's having written\a bout the missionary institute,
but I had not received that letter,  and was disturbed lest  it had been
lost.     But the next day it came,   althouphlmailed two days earlier.
J   With mother1 § letter tlje package of Christmas cards also
came,   and^I  read all the messages and  looked at each  one.    Was
surprised at  several.     mhere was one from JI  B.  Swimney,   orie from a
girl «t the Monte $ano Hospital whom ^suppose was mother's nurse
(I  thoug&t it was certainly nice of her tcTdo that and  it-showed what
an impression mother had made on her), ,|and then there were Leon and
Mina's, /'lonely ?Mrs.  Elder's1*,   and most unexpected,   the Frankfurtfc' .
another
swered.
containi
picture
two.    So
I jbegan
that the
changed
Because I have been delayed  so long^with thlsletter,
one  fro^ you both  caught  me today with these  la stestill unan-
And|with this one  came a  box|from Mrs.  Grant?ofjrtediands
ng a large .number of Christmas cards,   a  few birthday cards,
posthjcards,   etc.,   besides a   few tra^s and a  Bible picture or
you see your advertising has paid.   wIn looking over the^cards
to notice they looked  strange,  and turning them over I  found
postmarks ran clear back as  far as 1909-    Howfthe  styie3 have
even in cards'.
I am following your  stages  of improvement with great interest.
Have been waitinsctso "long forjmews'of your first attendance^at church
again,   and am glad :it did not  seem to overtax vour strength;   but was
-most  sorry to know of your  set-back  from the trip to Rediands.    Please
remember|and profit by mistakes.     If someone can take your class this
year,   I  thin^ it .would  be verr wise for you to rest  from    it.
te-    |vour use  of the  scripture that  two could put tentthousand
to flight while Either alone could  chase  onl^ a  thousand  struck me
with a   force and a   freshness  that was  singularly reminiscent  of the
peculiar  simplicity and applicability and  finality of the use Jesus
made  of the  scriptures  in the  gospel record.     I had never thought of
that verse as applying to any such situation. %,      |
,In this  connection I  might mention.another difficulty of
missionary homes.     They are trying to live away from home;   +hat is,
they do not  go to foreign lands as colonists,   but always consider
America.as home.     But the  life in foreign lands  in no way fits them
for a   return to America;   titey are alway? misfits,   rears behind the
times,   when they  so back .4   And   it  is  even harder on' the children.
If' theyor>layiwith7Korean children,   the transfer to the very different
American^play group will mean much, suffering.     If the^ do not play
With the Koreans,   there are usually notfenough other foreign playmates
to give them normal development.     If they were tofbe permanent residents
here,   that would seem to solve the problem,     fhat  is,   the missionary
must migrate andlbid  farewell  to America,     *he Stokes boys  seem as
near normal as any I know,   and I If wondering how they are  finding
adjustments in America.     Clarence.Weems,  who would impress  one as
toeing normal,   told me last year that whgn he  first went  to America he
had a  terrible  time adjusting himself.    He  s*id he  felt peculiar and
out  of place and dreaded having to meet  others. - - ' *