Korea Missions Trip

November 17th - 22nd was our missions trip to South Korea. I got to serve with Pastor Tom Ruiz, also the director of the Bible College here in Okinawa, and with four other students (photo above, courtesy of e3missions). One of the purposes of the trip was for the foreign students (like me) to renew our tourist visas. Japan allows you to stay for 90 days, so in order to stay longer and finish off the semester, Bible College students make the Korea trip. I saw it as a great opportunity to serve the Lord in another country and also be able to come back to Okinawa and serve Him still.
During our six day trip, we helped out at Calvary Chapel Daejeon, which is a few hours from Seoul. During the weekend, we also went to a home for the mentally challenged, witnessed to some students at an English school, and led worship and teaching at a Christian school where one of the missionaries serves at. Sightseeing, shopping, and eating filled in our free time.


On Friday, we spent the day at the Independence Hall of Korea. It was a spectacular exhibition park on the history of Korea leading up to the split from Japanese rule during the imperialist expansion of the early 20th century. The entrance is a giant wing-like structure called the monument to the nation, representing the spirit of Korea. A lot of the outer structures were built in hope that South and North Korea will one day unite and become one nation, so there is definitely a feeling of peace as you walk throughout the park.


The exhibit itself was informational and had a lot of graphic photos and replicas of the brutal slaughter that the Japanese inflicted on the Koreans. As with any memorial that deals with war upon man, it was difficult to look at and not become defensive. It makes me pray more that people would know Jesus, our true Prince of peace.


On Saturday, we went to House of Hope, a Christian home for the mentally challenged and handicapped. The home is situated in the beautiful mountains of Daejeon and was a blessed place to spend the afternoon. God gave me the opportunity to lead worship with my classmate Taliya and Daniel Sedota, a missionary living in Daejeon.


Afterwards, we helped out in their garden, gathering vegetables for the coming winter and drying them in their greenhouse. We also stored a massive amount of radishes in a giant pit that they dug in the ground. Daniel told us that House of Hope started when a man was paralyzed after a parachute accident. He was saved soon after and decided to open up a home for those with special needs, to know Jesus. It was a really special time to just love on the people there, even though no one on our team could speak fluent Korean. We pretty much went with the intention to serve in any way possible and the Lord really blessed our time there.


(photo above is the radishes we stored in their garden. They will apparently stay fresh all winter. Photo courtesy of e3missions).


Sunday was helping out at Calvary Chapel Daejeon's morning service. We cleaned up the church and then sat in on their bilingual service. Pastor Mike Loudermilk of CC Daejeon gave a sermon, with his wife translating.


Afterwards, we went shopping in downtown Daejeon and then came back for a early Thanksgiving dinner with the Daejeon family. Thanksgiving is obviously not a holiday in Korea, but the church thought it would be nice to have one for the Americans attending the church and for the Korean body to get to experience a super American meal. I met a lot of Koreans who said they ate turkey for the first time!


After dinner, I got to help lead worship and then we all sat in on Pastor Tom's message.


On our last day, we went to Daniel's school to hang out with his students. The school, called SOT (School of Tomorrow) bases their curriculum around using American Christian educational materials. So the students are all learning English and studying the Bible at the same time. Being a Christian school, many of the students want to become pastors and missionaries, so it was great to hear about their lives and talk to them about Jesus. Our team each gave a short blurb about a bible verse and then we had worship time and a special message from Pastor Tommy.

(photo above: our team eating at People Baking Toast - a cheap, healthy, and yummy place to eat breakfast)
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us throughout our time there. It was truly a work of the Lord getting us there, allowing us to serve, and getting us back in Okinawa safely. We didn't have any problems with immigration, so all of our visas have been renewed. We made a lot of connections with the Korean body of Christ at CC Daejeon and hopefully can keep in contact with them. The ministry there is praying about opening up a Calvary Chapel Bible College extension campus, so please pray that the Lord will lead them in that. Thanks for checking out this entry and have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

P.S. For more pictures, check out a short video slideshow of our trip below!

Korea Missions Trip 2011 from deftlefty on Vimeo.