Trip 1 Day 4 - Worship in Suwon

Today is actually day 5, but it's been relatively uneventful (we needed a day of rest!) and I missed my post on Day 4 - which was full of excitement.  Yesterday will definitely go down as one of the most unique Mother's Day I have had and probably ever will experience. 

We spent the day with Esther and Peter again.  Their church had a special event planned for today - Sports Day.  So rather than meeting at the church, we met at a local gym with 600-700 other members of their congregation.  We started with a worship service, had lunch and then participated in Sports Day.  Ended the day with a visit to the Hwasang Fortress (built almost 1000 years ago!), another wonderful meal, and then we headed back to the Suwon Station for travel back to Seoul on train and subway.  We arrived back at our guest room around 10pm.

Worshipping with our Christian family in Korea was so moving.  Several songs were familiar to us - though they were of course sung in Hangul. 

Peter preached a sermon that I will hold onto (Esther was translating for me) - he used the Psalms to discuss and teach about praising God in difficult times.  He used analogies of the Koreans having victory and freedom from the Japanese.  They sang a song that was written as a result of their victory, and then Peter changed the words of the song to sing about the victory we have in Christ versus Satan.

While singing the song, he played a traditional Korean small gong "Kkwaenggwari".  At the end of the day, Peter gave us his kkwaenggwari as a gift.  I can't tell you how much this means to us.  It will probably be our most treasured take away from this trip (with the exception of our son of course).



Gong given to us by Peter

During church, Peter introduced our family and shared a little of our adoption story.  The people of the congregation were so kind to us and honored us in so many ways.

Sports Day was an absolute blast.  Every age group participated in this event.  I am so impressed with how healthy and agile the elderly are in this society.  The congregation was divided into 4 groups (red, blue, yellow and green).  We all sat in bleachers, and as the host would give guidance to how many people from each team should participate and general instructions for each event.  Since we couldn't understand what the host was saying, all the congregation would just push us out into the gym as to say "It's your turn - go!".  So Ron and I would participate in events without even knowing the rules sometimes, but we would just get to the back of the line and follow the people ahead of us.

Here's what I learned during these events:

• Ron looks great in a clown wig, dress and flippers
• I am apparently good at kicking traditional Korean shoes a long distance
• Americans, in general, can't hula-hoop at all in comparison to Koreans (the hula-hooping was some pretty serious business!)
• Americans, in general, are better at riding scooters than Koreans.
• Korean "Bingo" is actually American "Connect 4"
• Rock, paper, scissors can be fun for children and adults!

There was a relay race using scooters, and when Ron and I rode (we were on the same team) we went a bit faster than most everyone - so the host declared that Ron and I had to race each other.  So Ron and I raced, and the crowd went wild.  It was so funny.

What a fun time!



Go Blue Team!

 



Ron in relay race in wig, dress and flippers



This was an event for people >70 years old... look at them run


Reese and I racing while holding a ball between us

Leaving Esther and Peter was very difficult for all of us.  We have, for so long, looked forward to our visit together.  Our being there helped them feel closer to EunJoo, and we just felt so encourage, loved and inspired by them.  It was definitely a time we will never forget.

So, I will end with a really funny story.

Our trip home felt long - we were so tired.  When we got off the subway, we exited to a part of town that we were not expecting, and we were turned around, and it was late at night.  As we were trying to get our bearings, we were walking down an "alley", but there were still many people walking around.  A man dressed in a suit walked past us and let the loudest toot I have ever heard.  Even funnier than that is he did not miss a step, and NOBODY around us responded at all.   We were trying so hard to hold it together, but we were so tired (and we have an 8 year old with us) - we lost it.  It was hard to focus on finding our way home after that.  Every time we think of it now, we all just start cracking up.

Pictures of Hwasang Fortress

 



Young boy protecting Hwasang Fortress :)