Loud Boys

Bishop Choi Yoon Hwan wasn’t sure what to do when a group of rowdy boys, most of whom were not members of the Church, had begun using the local Church meetinghouse as a gathering place for activities and ping-pong tournaments. “They were so rowdy,” he reported, “that once my wife, Bon-Kyoung, asked me if we could move to another ward so that our sons could see good examples from other young men.” But Bishop Choi wanted to find a way to help the young men. After pondering and praying, he felt inspired that “if [the boys] were to become missionaries, their lives would be changed.”

Bishop Choi began spending as much time as possible with the boys. He visited them often, invited them to his home, and shared many meals with them. “He always wanted to spend time with us and do things with us,” reported Kyung Ik Min, one of the boys. Kyung Yeol Park added, “It was great.” Bishop Choi taught them the principles of the gospel and how to prepare for missions. “We tried to give them a vision of their future life,” Bishop Choi said.

A short time later, Yong Chul Seo, a young full-time missionary, was transferred into the ward. When he was younger, Elder Seo had participated in a Church-sponsored singing group with his friends. In addition to teaching the young men the missionary lessons, Elder Seo organized them into a triple quartet and named them the Hanaro Quartet, which means “be as one.”

The Hanaro Quartet, 1992.

The time the boys spent singing together and learning from leaders who cared helped the boys mature in the gospel. Over the next few years, nine of the boys were baptized. Bishop Choi watched them change from the “loud, rowdy boys” he had first met into the “valiant stripling warriors” he had envisioned they could become.

“They served missions, met beautiful young sisters in the Church, and married in the temple,” Bishop Choi said. “They are now leaders in their wards and stakes.”

As Bishop Choi’s own sons grew up, the rowdy boys in the area became a positive influence on his sons. “They loved our young boys in the same way I loved them,” he said. “These loud, rowdy boys of the past became our children’s heroes.”