Trip Updates #4--Sunday

I ended up staying up until 12:30 last night journaling (blogging on paper :) We had time to sleep this morning except that is it completely light here by 5:30, so I was wide awake by 5:45 with no hope of going back to sleep.

Last night Sayone gave us a pizza menu to look at. I wish you could see it!! The featured pizza is "Seafood Island" with seafood toppings and shrimp, wrapped in a dough, standing upright in a ring around the crust. And the large pizza is 34 us dollars. Many of the other toppings I didn't recognize. I finally saw something that looked like pepperoni on the last pizza. I've never been so happy to see a pepperoni in my life! (Robert, Jeff, Luke & Aaron had Papa John's Sunday night. They said it tasted just like at home. Mom--Papa John's and a pillow when I get home. ")

Leeanne and I are discovering some things that are universal. 1-Teenagers here also make peace signs when you get out the camera. (Except here we think it might mean "victory over North Korea" not "peace") 2-The team we were on during game time last night appeared to be mostly middle schoolers. And guess what? They text during youth too! It's a universal epidemic!! Someone please find a cure!!

There is one thing I am very confused about. We take our shoes off when entering homes. We took our shoes off before sitting down at the restaurant. We take them off when we enter the children's area at church. But we don't take them off when we enter the sanctuary. I mentioned it to Leeanne and she said "there's a blog in that." And there is. Could it be, like us, that they do some things just out of tradition and don't think about the meaning or significance of it? Like when we skip service because "it's only the Lord's Supper" or "the pastor's out of town"? this culture seems more deliberate in their traditions, so I think there may be a better explanation. I hope to be able to ask Isaac about it.

From what I understand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul are the safest places in the world. We have been told several times they we are perfectly safe to walk down the street by ourselves even at night. Laying in bed awake (early) this morning I realized I haven't heard a siren since we've been here.

Last night at dinner we were told "only one American at each table." We think the students may have been assigned to talk to us. I sat with the English teacher (who brought back memories of the 'Korean stalker' for those of you who know what that means). Anyway, he told me that many young people want reunification with North Korea. That really surprised me. It was the first time I'd heard North Korea mentioned. Flying here we seemed to go pretty far out of our way to avoid flying in North Korean space. Then he asked me if I was interested in the fall election in the US. I told him I very much am. He asked me who I will vote for. I told him that I will be voting for John McCain. He said, "Oh, you are a Republican! I bet you are also of conservative mind." I said yes, but was thinking, 'this guy may know more aobut our election than many voting Americans."

For breakfast this morning...frosted flakes!! Then me and Samantha went to the church to practice "Behold the Lamb." Except that we missed the memo that we aren't doing it. It's frustrating because that is the one thing I can bring. The communication (lack there of) in our team is more frustrating than the language barrier. There are times it has felt like me and Samantha are here by ourselves, because we just haven't seen the others when we have down time. We waited at the church for a while and then walked back to the house (apartment) to ask Isaac to call the people Leah and Kellie are staying with so we would be able to talk to them. People don't take your cell phones for granted!! I would have given all my money to be able to talk to Todd this morning, and he's only two floors away. (Isaac and Sayone asked if we would dance at least for them. So we'll do it sometime, just not in the expected way.)

Calvary has services at 9 and 11. We attended both, but the first was very hard for me. I'm struggling with "being thrown into things" without really knowing what is going on. After the service I was able to talk to Leeanne for a few minutes and that helped so much. The first service is for people who will work with the kids, etc, in the second service. The second service is the main service. Jeff sang with the praise team. They sang mostly in English today. When they did sing in Hangul they asked Jeff to continue singing in English. Robert prayed with translation. We were each given a rose. Pastor Won had us stand while the people sang to us. (Don't really know what they sang.) And Todd preached with Pastor Won interpreting. (Maybe the first time ever Todd has been stationary while preaching. Ha!) As the service ended Pastor Won motioned for us to go upstairs quickly. We didn't know why then, but we were to greet people as they came upstairs. While I was greeting, one of the ladies grabbed my arm and told me to get my "Steps to Peace with God." (When they want our attention, they just grab us and push us where they want us. That is very hard to get used to.) With an interpreter I went through the presentation with a man who prayed to receive Christ. I went back downstairs to get our stuff from the sanctuary. I had not put them down yet and someone yelled "Erin! Come! Now!" So I dropped the bags and went through the presentation with a woman who also prayed to receive Christ. Then I was able to eat lunch with Luke and Jeff.

After lunch we ran "home" to change clothes and meet back at the church to go share on the streets. While we were waiting, Leeanne and I were talking. One of the ladies grabbed my arm and pulled me to the team she wanted me to be on. A little warning and the chance to end a sentence would be great. Anyway... Samantha and I were on a team with people my age. We talked to a few people. I think 3 prayed to receive Christ. One man we talked to was a Buddhist and didn't want to talk so much. Our team stopped to rest in the park. The guys bought us bottled water and chocolate bars. And then one of the guys asked me to be his girlfriend. Awkward!! ("Er-in. . . how do you think of Korean men? . . ")

We went back to the cafe and looked forward to time together. . . except a storm was coming so Sayone had us go back to the house. Another hour of opportunity to be together was gone. It really is so hard. I know my attitude about this is not right, but sometimes I feel like they let us be together when they want to show us off and when we feel like we finally have some time together they pull us apart. I want so much to finish a conversation with Leeanne and Leah would probably like to see Luke sometime.

American television and movies are very big here. Friday was Veteran's day here. Isaac knew our independence day is July 4th because of Tom Cruise and "Born on the Fourth of July." Many people have told me that Aaron looks like Scofield on "Prison Break" an my "family" thinks that Robert looks like Sean Connery. (Some also think Samantha and me are sisters and that Todd is Jeff's short brother.) A danger of American movies--not knowing what words in English are curse words. Pretty interesting conversation though.

We went to dinner with our hosts families tonight. This is the first time we've been in the family car--no car seats, don't have to wear seat belts, little ones sit up front too. And even though we drive on the same side of the road, don't think driving here is the same as in America. We went to a Korean Barbecue. The food cooks on a "grill" in the center of the table. They put sweet potatoes (small and yellow) in the coals so when you are finished with the meat, the potatoes are ready. The barbecue was pork and duck. The duck was really good. Again we had kimchee and noodles. I'm doing a little better with chopsticks but have a way to go. We took many pictures there.

We then went back to church for "English Village" meeting. English Village is the Bible School this week. First we had to learn motions for songs. Some of them acted as though we'd have a hard time learning, but the point of English Village is for the kids to learn some basic English and Bible stories, so the songs are all in English. Tonight was very confusing trying to figure out exactly what their expectations are for us. We were split into two groups--Crafts and Storytelling. Leeanne, Robert, Aaron, Jeff and Anthony are craft teachers. Samantha, Luke, Leah, Kellie and me are storytellers. (Todd comes in to action whenever the schedule calls for "American Pastor." Monday and Wednesday he will be teaching the Bible story. We didn't know that until today.) I assumed that in the story-telling group we helped with story time. Nope. We teach, they help. The songs they are learning come from books, so we are to read the book, ask questions, do word activities and then teach the song. Basically it went like this "Here's your lesson plan. You teach tomorrow. But it's English, so no problem." The Korean teachers (and some of our group too) don't see why we would be nervous about a 40-minute English lesson with 15 Korean elementary students who don't speak English. They are expecting 150 kids for Monday and Tuesday (elementary) and another 150 Wednesday and Thursday (kindergarten). The kids will be broken into 10 teams. (Go Yellow team!!) The meeting was frustrating. We asked if we were supposed to sing the song with the kids. "No. No. A Korean teacher will do that." Then at the end of the meeting "You will each have a cd to teach the kids the song." I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

We were able to broadcast to West Lonsdale. There were some glitches (about an hour and a half's worth) but the guys worked them out and had us rolling just in time. Kudos to Leeanne for remembering that the computer was on mute.

We are now supposed to do two dances Tuesday and Thursday. I'm not optimistic the four of us will be able to get away long enough to practice and without someone taking one of us right out of practice to do something else.

Todd said there is a dinner Monday night for all the host families and us. Hopefully we will be able to talk to each other. One of the things I miss the most is being able to end our day praying together.

More later...