F. Ray Hawkins, Northern Far East Mission

October 1957 to May 1960







I was extremely blessed to be called to serve in the Northern Far East Mission. 

Eight of us arrived in Tokyo in October of 1957. Two of us were told that we would be going to Korea and serve in the Korean District of the Northern Far East Mission. After a stay of about a month in the Shibuya Branch waiting to process visas Elder L. Edward Brown and I flew to Seoul. We were met by Elder Gail E. Carr who was the Presiding Elder in Korea. His companion that day was a U.S. serviceman who was driving a two and a half ton truck into which we threw our luggage and ourselves and we were off for headquarters at Sam Chung Dong. We were fascinated by the ride, passing rice paddies and traversing the Han River by the only bridge there was at the time.



The district office at Sam Chung Dong, where the Sam Chung Branch was and where the missionaries laboring in that branch stayed, was being remodeled at the time and in general disarray. Among the missionaries who met us was Elder Larry Orme who had just come up from Pusan and whom Elder Carr told me that I would be replacing.



The next morning, after a breakfast cooked by Elder Carr in a makeshift kitchen under the front stairs, I was taken to the train station, given instructions not to let my bag out of my sight, handed a tract by Elder Orme with a map of how to get to the Pusan Branch and sent on my way. It was one of the longest rides of my life. I did not know any language and at each stop vendors boarded the train to sell their wares and I could not understand them or respond intelligently to any of them. To heighten my anxiety I was the only foreigner on the train and every eye was on this round eyed stranger.



After an all-day ride we pulled into the Pusan train station. I had been told by Elder Orme to wait in the train when I arrived and that the missionaries would find me. After everyone had left the train the only ones left were some little beggar boys and me. They gathered around me and offered to carry my bag. The caution received from Elder Orme stayed with me and I declined the offer. One of them reached up grabbed my hat and ran out of the car. I was at a loss as to what to do but I hurried out of the car following the scurrying boys. Upon exiting the car I saw the boy with my hat crouching under the train with my hat in hand. They were working a ploy that had been successful for them in the past. That is, they were waiting for me to put my bag down and chase after my hat. I did not do that but in my frustration I picked up a rock and in true missionary fashion threw it at him. It made a loud noise as it hit the wheel of the train and, after glancing around and ascertaining that no one had seen me, I decided that I had indeed lost my hat and made my way out of the train station searching every face for a sign that they were looking for me.



The tract with the map of the Pusan Branch given to me when I left Seoul by Elder Orme would prove to be heaven sent. Outside of the Pusan station was a mass of humanity and activity. There were dozens of taxis with each driver motioning you toward his taxi. I approached one of them and gave him the tract making some kind of motion that I was trying to get to the place on the map. I quickly became the center of attention of all the taxi drivers as well as dozens of curious onlookers. The taxi drivers turned the map in all directions and gestured to one another in such a way that my impression was that they could not figure out the map.



Finally one of them motioned me into his taxi and we were off. It was dark and the streets were teeming with people. As we drove further the streets grew narrower and there were no sidewalks. The crowds of people parted just ahead of the rapidly moving car and it seemed that crowds did not necessarily mean that you went slower only that you honked more. I had never seen anything like it before in my life. The insecurities and anxieties of the day now manifest themselves in the thought that this taxi driver could take me somewhere, knock me over the head, take everything that I had and there wouldn’t be one person in this world who would have any idea where I was. It was in this frame of mind that the headlights began to illuminate in the distance a sign. As we got closer I could make out "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." If I live to be a hundred I will never look at the name of the church again without hearkening back to that feeling I had so long ago and so far away. I was saved!



The taxi pulled to a stop and I got out and knocked on the gate. As I did so, a bell hanging from the gate pealed. Quickly, a window opened in the house and a flashlight was pointed in my direction. A missionary said "who is it." I answered, "it’s me." I was told that they were just getting ready to go down and get me and that my train must have arrived early. They emerged from the house and took me inside. I met Elders Kimball, Newman, and Taylor. I recounted my experience of the day and assured them that I was grateful to see them.



As it came time to go to bed. I was told that I would have a small mattress and would sleep on the floor. It seemed that the two cots in the room were for the senior missionaries and the juniors slept on the floor. It didn’t matter much to me because I was exhausted from my trying day and ready for bed. After our prayers, as an afterthought, one of them told me that a rat came into their room occasionally at night but that there was no cause for concern. I was incredulous at this statement, but I laid down pulled the sleeping bag over my head and went to sleep. Thus passed my first full day in "The Land of the Morning Calm."