WANTED: ALIVE!

This is Hanna! She is a wonderful person, the daughter of our friends Sam Yeol and Hyang Ho. She is an excellent interpreter, and we pray for her daily.

On Sunday, May 24, we visited the Korean Armed Forces Military Church. It was a huge building, and we had a great service with our friends. After the service, we joined the High School service too. It was traditional, but they sang several songs like those we used to sing in Millington. These were led by the youth praise team. The Youth choir sang very nicely too. After the service, we spoke with several of the young people, and a few of the leaders. The Chaplain, who oversees the youth, specializes in suicide prevention. Friedhelm was asked to come back and preach a sermon in the fall. Colonel Jang offered to provide a "beautiful" translator. I hope Hanna, his daughter, will be available! We cannot wait to go back!

Col. Jang and Hyang Ho took us to a Military Museum where we got a good history lesson on the story of the King Taebaek and the Baekje Kingdom from 1400 years ago. This great King dramatized on the back of the warrior horse led his 5,000 warriors in defending the kingdom from the Silla and Tang Dynasties 50,000 soldiers. Their attack was repelled four times successfully, but on the fifth attack the King and his men were finally defeated and killed. 3,000 female assistants from the Palace, fearing they would lose their lives and relative security marched to the top of a cliff and did the honorable thing--committing mass suicide. While at the museum we met a young superman fan. This superman carried a sword! Friedhelm gave him a quarter and a few minutes later he caught up to us and gave him a 100 KRW coin in exchange. In the other photos there are statues of a Pagoda with Col. Jang explaining the history. Also we met a family with two daughters who were quite kind to get in a photo with us. We really enjoyed our visit, and look forward to going back to the Daejeon area many times in the future.

Our dear friends, Colonel Jang & Hyang Ho, greeted us with beautiful, decorative balloons celebrating Friedhelm's birthday. Our visit was complete with birthday candle, (torch that opened like a flower with a "Happy Birthday" song and Birthday Cake. Hyang Ho made a couple of fantastic meals for us too.

Sunday the tenth of May 2009

Susan and I were accompanied by our friends Dennis and Sun Wah as we visited Pastor Kim and the people of Songdong Church of God for the very first time. Everything was in Korean, so we were glad Sun Wah came along as our interpreter/guide. Amazingly we only got lost once on the way, but made it back home in only 30 minutes by car. Pastor Kim gave us a list of all the Churches of God in Korea with contact information. It is in Korean, but with the help of our friends, we will be able to visit many of them. There are quite a few in the greater Seoul area. The most unique thing we experienced was the ringing of a bell by the Pastor during the worship service. The singing was very traditional, and the music printed on the same page as the bible/song book we received from Yewon Presbyterian. I think there is a lot of networking going on over here! The sermon was based on 1 Peter, verses 1 & 2. We did not have translation provided, but Sun Wah gave us the jist of the message. We did get to talk with Pastor Kim for about 30 minutes between services. He is a wonderful Pastor and his congregation was very helpful and friendly. We look forward to learning more Korean in the months and years to come. Pastor Kim wants me to preach there in the fall, when we return from our summer in the USA.

Yeah!!! We finally found a Church of God in Seoul! The Songdong Church of God in Seoul, South Korea, built in 1953. Pastor Kim is the Pastor. It appears the sanctuary is all underground! Those steps in the back lead up to the ground floor! We will be visiting the 11 AM service on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Long-time Church of God Missionary, Bob Edwards, gave us the contact information. Our friend Rusty made the initial contact in Korean. Our friend Sun Wah will accompany us to make sure we are understood linguistically. It is our hope that we can get a list together of all the Church of God congregations in Korea while we are here. The C.O.G. website in Anderson lists 51 congregations. They say that Pastor Kim is the National Leader. Already he has told us that is out-dated information. Hopefully we will be able to help get things updated in Anderson. I understand they are terribly under-staffed and have no official Missionary in Korea. Well, I guess we are it then...let's get some work done!

lower left, saying Good-bye to a good friend from school already, our favorite administrative assistant;

Yewon kids singing it up...; Friedhelm at a dinner with school nurse;

Dennis get a special hand lotion treatment at HOME PLUS store. Today's soldier is more concerned about skin care!

Pictured here are some of our friends from Yewon Church. The colors are only outdone by their smiles and warm hearts.