Trip Updates #9 --Friday

Our last day in Korea, at least for now. The first of us back will probably be Jeff. :) This morning we took a "family photo" in our host home and ate breakfast all together. The girls gave me and Samantha candy and a four-leaf clover from Hanul's collection. I also got a video of Sarang's special walk. She is too cute! We exchanged addresses and email and then all met at the church for one final meeting. Pastor Won presented us each with a gift. Todd, Jeff, Luke, Robert and Anthony were also presented Korean Bibles. Each of us was also given a CD of the week's programs. The ladies made sure we each had whatever drink we wanted from the cafe. These people are amazing. We held hands and Pastor Won led us in "God is so Good." And the Americans all cried. Pastor Won asked Todd to pray and then he also prayed in Korean. The church members came around and gave hugs and said good-byes that were more like "see you soon." Twice I've been asked to pinky-promise that I will be back next year. When Hanul left for school this morning, she said, "See you next year." It is not a possibility in the minds of these people that we won't be back.

This morning in the elevator leaving the house, a neighbor asked Sarang who me and Samantha were. She looked up at Isaac and he told her something, which she repeated and then she smiled. Sayone told us the word meant "sisters."

After leaving the church, we drove to the DMZ. (The "de"militarized zone that has more soldiers and land mines than anywhere in the world.) There is a river that runs parallel to the highway from Seoul to the north. The river is "fenced in" with tall barbed wire and manned guard stations. The reason? The river runs south from North Korea and the guards and fence are protection from small groups of soldiers trying to enter by water. In the van I sat up front with Isaac and Caleb. (Caleb works with the youth at Calvary.) Caleb told me of his time in the military. In Korea, young men are required to serve for three years; Caleb served 40 months in the navy and is classified as a lietenant-general grand. He said he traveled to twelve countries, including his time stationed in Guam. He told me that once he had come face to face with the North Korean enemy, but that's all he said about it. When we arrived at the DMZ, we were surprised to see a carnival. I guess they are taking advantage of the tourism, so there is a 'restaurant' (we chose not to try the cooked bugs) and rides, including tea cups. From the outside it looks like fun, but once you step inside you know this is a serious place. Your passports are checked before you can get on the tour bus. We went through a guard station where our passports were checked by a soldier who came onto the bus. We asked Caleb is these were all South Korean soldiers. His response was, "yes. If they are North Korea soldiers, we are dead." Driving up to Dorasan Station we passed signs to remind people of the presence of land mines. At many places (most actually) we were not allowed to take pictures. At Dorasan we were able to look out over an observatory area into the neutral zone. We may have been able to see North Korea if today had not been so cloudy. Inside a small auditorium there was a map of the area. While we were studying the map, Caleb told us that sometimes it floods in North Korea and bodies wash down the river into the South. (Caleb was my personal tour guide--he translated announcements on the bus and pointed out US army bases, etc.)

We went to a gift shop or two before visiting the 3rd tunnel. The tunnel was incredible. I had no idea we'd actually go in. We were given helmets (but had to leave cameras and phones in lockers) and rode what was like a roller coaster car down into the tunnel. We rode through the part South Korea tunneled to reach the actual 3rd tunnel. We were able to walk once we reached the actual tunnel. It's crazy to think that 1) men dug that tunnel for so long without anyone knowing, 2) they dug that far underground, 3) we stood today where soldiers had once prepared to ambush a country and break a peace agreement. Throughout the tunnel are yellow paint markers--the spots where dynamite had been used to further the tunnel.

When we returned from the tunnel, we were able to tour a museum outlining the relationship of the North and the South from the 1950s until now. Then we watched a video that portrays the DMZ as a happy, hopeful place. You could walk away from the video thinking that tomorrow you will go back to the DMZ for a picnic with the North. Today we heard again of the desires for reunification. On the bus, Caleb pointed out to me buildings under construction to be used when the military is united. South Koreans really seem to desire reunification. Only the outside, apparently, considers Korea divided into seperate countries.

We were at the DMZ for about 3 hours. "The ninja" stayed with the van carrying our luggage the whole time we toured. From the DMZ, we drove straight to Incheon International Airport. Pastor and Ms. Won met us there to say good-byes and pray together one last time. Isaac hugged me and Samantha good-bye ("my little princesses"). Isaac is quite a character, always joking. Never believe a word he tells you. His family may be in Knoxville in May. Pastor Won's daughter will be graduating and he and Sayone plan to be there. He asked to see pictures of our homes and dinner menus so he can decide who he wants "home stay" with. Then he told Todd all he needed from him was an email address, a bank number and a pin code.

We said our last good-byes a little before 5 pm (4 am in Knoxville) and headed through security, which was not nearly as involved as in Knoxville. We found a Hagen-Daas store. A man overheard that I couldn't get a wireless connection and pointed me toward a book store with computers for free internet access. So I was able to at least email my parents that I was on my way. We exhanged our wons for dollars and, after taking pictures of the most incredible toilets, boarded the plane for Knoxville.

At 7:40 pm Seoul/6:40 am Knoxville we flew over Tokyo. It was amazing!! As we first flew over Japan we could barely see lights when the clouds lifted. But once we reached Tokyo you could see the outline of Japan's coastline in the city lights. Amazing, amazing, amazing.

I fell asleep for about an hour or so and woke up at 11 am Knoxville time (midnight in Seoul). It was completely dark when I fell asleep. When I woke up it was sunrise time over the Aleutian Islands. It's beautiful, but hard to believe I am coming from midnight on my way to noon and watching sunrise.

I know I've only had experience flying for a little over a week now, but this group of flight attendants is not going to be my favorite. And the food...well... the Chick-Fil-A at the Atlanta airport was delicious!!

We left Incheon at 6:05 pm Friday June 13. We landed in Atlanta at 6:20 pm Friday June 13. We had to remind each other exactly how long it had been since we had gotten up. At the time we landed, it had been about 25 hours for us. Our flight in Atlanta was scheduled to leave at 9:35. We spent a while on the runway and actually left at 9:55. We were in Knoxville by 10:20. The actual flight time from Atlanta to Knoxville is about the same as my drive from home to church. Luke and I were seated on the back of the plane, but the group waited for us outside the terminal so we could all enter the airport together. As we turned the corner we saw a group of people with "welcome back" posters. . . and then realized they were for us!! Thank you so much to all of you who came out to the airport late on a Friday night to welcome us home. It means so much!! Also, thank you so much for the positive feedback on the blogs. We will be sharing more about the trip during the Sunday morning service this week. I know it will be great...Robert started working with the video on the plane and Todd has already begun collecting copies of our pictures. I'm a little sad that this will be my last blog of South Korea '08. Thanks for being a part of the experience!!

More (pictures) later. . .