Yoido Full Gospel Church

So Wednesday I was able to go see the one thing I've been anticipating to see since I learned I was going on this trip, Yoido Full Gospel Church. Last week Dr. Moon promised me we would tour the building Wednesday as a part of my practicum. For those who don't know, Yoido at 830,000 members is the largest protestant church in the world. When we got there we couldn't find a parking space anywhere. Most Korean establishments don't have parking lots, because of the lack of space they have parking basements. We had to go all the way to the third floor of the basement to find a parking spot. It was kind of scary to think that you were three floors underground. So after we parked and went inside the building, we found out why it was so croweded. Neither one of us knew that they had a Wednesday worship at 12 noon. Actually they have five different Wednesday worhips and all of them were packed. My ingnorance was very apparent since I was wearing a t-shirt, basketball shorts, and flip flops. I felt so weird walking into their worship where everybody was wearing suit and tie and I had on a Uplift t-shirt. When we walked in the sanctuary we couldn't find a seat anywhere. I mean this was the biggest sanctuary I've ever seen...and it was full to capacity. Not to mention that this was a Wednesday worship in the middle of the day! While I was looking for a seat I noticed that EVERYBODY was speaking in tongue. Now I've been to many different kinds of churches but I've never seen a church where everybody caught the Holy Spirit. I mean we had to interrupt one of the ushers who was "feeling it" to have him help us find a seat.

As we were leaving when it was over, we walked by an ATM looking machine. Dr. Moon told me that people use that to give their tithes. Everything in this church was state of the art. One of the reasons Dr. Moon took me to Yoido is because he wanted me to see first hand what he was talking about in his dissertation. Yoido, like many other churches in Korea, lean heavily on what we call "prosperity preaching." Their motto comes from 3 John 2, and it's written all around the church. Dr. Moon told me that this type of doctrine is accepted here because of how closely it's related to Shamanism, a folk religion of Korea. We talked a long time about how even when a new religion is accepted, the one that was engrained before still has an impact on a person. Even as a Church of Christ preacher, he still deals with issues in the church that roots back to folk religions of Korea.

So after an amazing, enlightening morning I was brought back to reality when I step foot in Korean language class. It was the worst two hours of my life. It's bad enough that languages don't register that well with me. But on top of that, my teacher doesn't speak English that well and he's not a Korean language teacher. But it's ok, I'll get through it. Besides, the worst thing that could happen is I fail the class. Well, on second thought that would be pretty bad.

Cold Noodles!

So today didn't go at all how I planned it. Since I didn't have class today, I woke up and took a shower planning on going to Itaewon which is the part of town where the Army base is. I was ready to see some Americans for a change. So as I was standing by the bus stop waiting to head to Itaewon when one of my friends ran up to me and handed me his cell phone. I was thinking to myself, "Who in the world on this guy's phone could want to speak to me?" When I answered I found out that it was the librarian and she told me that the missionary here on campus, Malcolm Parsley, wanted to meet me. So I headed up to the library and met Dr. Parsley. Dr. Parsley was in the military when he first came to Korea. After his duty was over he went back to the states and got his doctorate from Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, TN and came back to Korea as a missionary. He planted many churches and even was the president of KCU for a while. He took me out to lunch and he introduced me to a new Korean meal, it was basically cold noodles. It was actually pretty good. By the time we got back, it was too late for me to go to Itaewon so I just stayed, finished some homework and hung out in the International Zone. Now the International Zone is a small room in the main building on campus where Korean students come and practice their conversational English. Usually, one of the American professors are in there and they just hang out with the students so they can get comfortable having a conversation in English. I hang out in there sometimes because it's a good place for me to waste time without having to be isolated in my dorm room.

Thanks to Highway

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” This statement was made by a journalist named Charles Kuralt who was tired of the “cut throat” world of journalism and convinced CBS to let him travel around the country on a motor home doing reports on American lives around the nation. Charles was convinced that to really get to the heart of America one had to travel back roads to get where the real stories were.
This quote makes me think of how my life has become a highway. The technology and fast pace of today’s world have blinded me from the things that I used to appreciate and admire. As shallow as it sounds, it made me think about how I’ve forgotten to just slow down sometimes and admire what God has blessed me with, even if it’s only for a little while. I think that’s why Kuralt’s feature on The CBS Evening Show was such a hit back in the sixties because it showed people the treasures life have to offer that we have so easily looked over. We travel from one place to the other so quickly now that we fail to see what we passed in the process. I pray to God that he gives me the patience to slow down and appreciate what is around me in the present. That I won’t travel the globe and miss the treasures the world has to offer because I was anxious to get to the next phase of life. Most of my blog posts have been about what I’ve done. Little have I reflected on the events and savored the importance of what was really going on. Now that the first week is done hopefully things will slow down a little to where that’s easier to do.

N Seoul Tower

So Thursday night some of the students from the dorms took me to a Korean style spa. Don told me the name of it but I forgot. Anyway, it reminded of a Japanese Onsen. It had the very hot tub of water, the very cold tub of water, jet massagers, and many different saunas. The biggest difference with this place was when you got done with all that stuff you take a shower and put on these clothes they let you borrow and go to this large room where we met up with the girls that came with us. This large room had televisions, more saunas, and a snack bar. It even had these rooms were people sleep in these large cubby holes. We stayed up for a little bit and ate and played games. Afterwards we went to the “cubby hole” room and slept till the next morning. We got up around 6:00 and headed back to the school.
Later that evening Sang from Hanmee Church of Christ came by the school and showed Don Kinder and I around town. First we went to one of the Palaces here in Seoul. It wasn’t one of the best ones here but it was just as impressive. Afterwards we went to a place called the Korean House and then we ate at this pork cutlet place. Down the street from the restaurant we ate at was the cable car to take us up to the N Seoul Tower. From the top of this tower we were able to see the whole city of Seoul. It was pretty nice. We stayed up there till it got pretty dark so we could see how the city looked when it was light up. Surrounding the deck at the base of the tower was a fence full of pad locks. Sang told us that the pad locks was a new tradition among the new generation. When a new couple is about to marry they connect two padlocks to the fence to represent their lives together forever. Ironically, there was sign that said, “Don’t lose your key.” I thought that was pretty funny. Before we left we watched a band sing a couple of songs and then we headed back to the school.
While we were at the top of tower waiting for it to turn dark, Sang told us his story of how he ended up in Seoul. It was a story of struggle and poverty. As a young man, his dad sent him to the city with what is the equivalent of three dollars for a better life. It’s amazing to see how God has brought him from being a poor farmer in rural Korea to being a hard worker in God’s Kingdom.

"You look like Chris Paul"

The way class schedules work in Korea is a bit different from the way they work in the States. Instead of having a class two or three times a week, you just have that class one time a week for a really long time. Almost like a block schedule college style. So today I had my class with Don Kinder. I was pretty excited for the simple fact that this was my first and only class that has more than one student. The name of the class is New Testament Church Backgrounds and from the introduction I think I’m really going to enjoy it. After class one of the girls who sat in front of me gave me a piece of chocolate in front of all her friends. Koreans give so much that sometimes you’re not in the right “giving scenario” so it kind of makes you feel weird. For example, I was in the lobby earlier this evening talking with a group of friends I just met and in the midst of our conversation I decided to grab a drink from the machine that was behind me. One of the guys who spoke the best English told me, “She wants to buy drink for you.” I told her that it was ok, but by this time she was already beside me with money in her hand. So I just put my money in the machine first and kind of looked in the opposite direction. She hit the return button put her money in the machine and asked me what beverage I wanted. It was so awkward. This girl that I barely knew was insisting on buying my drink.
Anyway, on a different note, one of my friends in the dorms took me to go buy a phone. Well actually another guy in the dorm gave me his old cell phone and we just had to go get it turned on. So now I have a Korean cell phone! By the time we got back to the school one of the guys asked me to play basketball, so we played till it almost turned dark. While out there the guys figured I could play well solely because I "look like Chris Paul." How wrong they were. Supposedly they play every day at 5:30. I think I’m going to add that to my daily schedule.

Spare Ribs!

Today was a pretty interesting day. I had class this morning with Dr. Moon. It’s a one on one class called Practicum of Ministry. Today we talked about Korean church structures and history of the Korean church; he even gave me his dissertation to read.
For lunch, Don Kinder and I went to Pizza Hut. We ate these mini pizzas that had sweet potatoes on them. I had Korean language class at 3pm. When my teacher arrived at my room, he had no material in his hand. Luckily, he had it in the trunk of his car. After he went over the course syllabus with me, he started telling me how he wanted me to help his daughter learn English. He even invited me to dinner that night. I thought it was a good idea because I had to ride the subway back home by myself and I needed the practice. So we both jumped in his car and headed across town (cross town in Seoul terms mean about an hour and a half drive). Before we got to his house, we stopped at his daycare center. I mean this guy had more occupations than I could count. He is a professor at KCU, he owns a day care, and he’s the minister at a church. And that’s not counting he used to teach English in the high schools here in Seoul. So after we made it to the day care he had the accountant bring us both cups of green tea. Afterwards, he gave me a tour of the day care and then we’re off to his house. We get to his high rise apartment where the entrance gate is opened by a sensor mechanism stuck to his car. It didn’t take me long to realize that these weren’t your middle class apts. We get to his door where I’m welcomed by his wife who is ecstatic to see me. They asked me what kind of food I had a taste for but before I could tell them they decided on Western style food since I had to eat Korean all week in the cafeteria. So they asked me would I mind eating at “Zips.” Of course not to sound picky I nodded in consent. I had never even heard of the place. Before long, I found myself looking at the menu of one of the finest restaurants in Seoul. Oh and for clarification, the name of the restaurant wasn’t “Zips” but “VIPS” (as in V.I.P.S.). I mean even the kids menu was out of my budget. So I got the pork ribs entrée and all the meals came with access to the salad bar. This was the best salad bar I’ve ever been to. It had all different kind of fresh fruit, fruit salad, even different fish and meat. It was basically an appetizer buffet. So we sat and talked and eventually my whole slab of spare ribs came out. After dinner we went back to his apartment and talked a little and tried to figure out a good time for me to come back. By this time, his daughter was done giving her private music lesson. Before I left his wife wouldn’t let me leave without eating some grapes. I told her I was stuffed but she wasn’t hearing it and on my way out the door she stuffed by backpack with chips and cookies. He walked me to the subway station and helped me buy a transportation card and off I went, travelling across Seoul for the first time by myself…and it was at night! It wasn’t so bad. When I got to my station, Hwagok, I had to walk a mile before I made it to the school. Boy, with everyone taking me out to lunch and dinner every day I won’t ever get used to Korean food.
Teaching English in Korea is a big business. As a native speaker from America, everyone is willing to pay you to teach them English. People will go to no end to get you to teach them, or their daughter, English.

Some Random Pictures

Church Dining Hall

Church Classroom/Sanctuary

Korea Christian University Main Chapel