Dongshin Presbyterian Church

On Wednesday evening, we participated in a prayer service at Dongshin Presbyterian Church with Rev. Han, a Princeton alum. Group members read Scripture and blessed youth and young adults who were being confirmed or baptized. At the end of these markers of the Christian journey, family members brought flowers to the front and gave them to those who had professed their faith. We, then helped to serve communion to the congregation. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Our time at WCC comes to a close

We had a wonderful last day at WCC on Wednesday. I especially was amazed with the presentation from the Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary on PCK World Mission past and present. We are now headed to this seminary, who will be our final hosts before we return to the US on Saturday.

Here are a few last pictures from the BEXCO Center in Busan.

Birthday Tea Ceremony

Today is the Rev. Debra Church's birthday. So we celebrated by learning how to do the Korean Tea Ceremony in the Madang Exhibition area. Here are some pictures of the two of us after we graduated.

Earl and Sandra with the Youth of Pohang Central Presbyterian Church

Here are a few more pictures of our group from the Sunday worship experience with Pohang Central Presbyterian Church. Thanks to B.B. Calloway we have these great pictures of Earl and Sandra leading the  11:30 Youth Service.

Buddhist Temple Visit

On Tuesday morning before going to the WCC conference we had an interfaith experience by visiting our neighboring Buddhist temple near Eden Valley. We enjoyed learning about the functions of this temple, which is mainly related to services related to death, as it sits above a large Buddhist cemetery. We also figured out our animal birth years and took pictures by our respective animal statues. Enjoy our photos of this peaceful place.

Madang Workshop on Korean Traditional Music

Dave VanderMeer and Paul Huh both attended a Madang Workshop on incorporating Korean traditional music into Christian worship. Madang means a courtyard where all gather to learn together. The rest of us attended other workshops on a variety of topics, but we thought you'd enjoy the pictures from this particular workshop. I wish we had sounds to put with them.

Worship in Pohang Central Presbyterian Church

We had a wonderful Sunday at Pohang Central Presbyterian Church. All told we led worship at five different worship times: Friday Prayer, Sunday at 7:30, 9:00, 11:30, and 2:00. We broke new ground when Lindsay Armstrong stepped into the pulpit at 7:30 to be the first woman ever to preach at the church, followed at the 2:00 service with Veronica Slater. Some of us worked with other age groups during this time, too. I'll attach a couple of pictures here with more to follow I'm sure.

Group Photos

We're discovering that our hosts from Pohang Central Presbyterian Church like to take group photos. So here we are in a variety of locations around Pohang City during our weekend with our very gracious hosts.

Foods of Korea

Yesterday we went to Juk Do Market, where we encountered many types of Korean food in the raw or in some cases still alive. How many of the foods below do you recognize?

And when you put them all together you get something that looks like this...

Move to Pohang

Yesterday we moved from Eden Valley Resort to Philos Hotel in Pohang. On the way we stopped at some historical spots related to ancient Korean history--more on that later. We eventually arrived at our host church Pohang Central Presbyterian Church, where the group participated in worship leadership for the Friday Prayer Service. Below you see a picture of the sanctuary before the service. Rev. Jeff Brown preached with Dr. Paul Huh translating. Dr. Huh also played a cello brought by one of the church members. Prayers were led by Maggie Chandler, Rev. B.B. Calloway, Rev. Debra Church, and Rev. Laura Dorsey presented a plaque from Gardens for Peace to the congregation. It was a wonderful spirit-filled time to begin our stay with our hospitable sisters and brothers in Pohang.