Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Day 7 In Kwang Ju

Good morning to all. I hope your Sunday service went well. Our VBS yesterday was much smoother with more kids I think. I don't know if they got a final count at the end of the day or not. But the sanctuary and the balcony was filled up with kids and we started the day in opening with 190 kids. The ENGLISH VBS is a big draw.

Kwang Ju is divided into 5 districts. After VBS we went to the office of the elected leader of district 5. This was a high honor and not many people get to do this. There were 4 of us that got to go into his office. Me, Pastor James, Rob, Pastor Choo and his Elder Mr. Kong. We talked about future partnerships between Sunrise, Jordan Baptist and the City of Kwang Ju. I believe this meeting may have been the beginning of something big for Sunrise in the future.

Everyone is healthy, Lorrie still has a sore throat and coughing. I got her some medicine so we pray that that will help. After going to the District 5 Office we went to Kim Dae-Jung Convention Center. This man was the major person responsible for S. Korea gaining it's Democratic independence finally in 1987. He was the catalyst for the May 18,1980 democratic uprising in Kwang Ju where the military government at that time killed 538 people. We went to the prison where many local citizens were held and sentenced to death in 1980. He was released however and in 2000 won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was President of Korea from 1998-2003. He is a BIG National Hero, equivilent to our Abraham Lincoln.

After the convention center we all ate at a restaraunt where we had to sit on the floor at small tables and we ate a Korean BBQ. They cook the meat on fire coals in the middle of the table and you take your meat, wrap it in lettuce and eat it, kind of like a Korean fajita. I loved it, all the food was delicious!

Then we came back to the church and back to our host homes. Well, I think that's about it. Make sure you look at the Sunrise website page for new updated pictures. I will talk to you tomorrow.

Serving in Kwang Ju
Pastor Dan