Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Day 8

Day 8:Church and Shabu-Shabu

Today we rise and head down to the hotel dining room for breakfast, then it’s back to our rooms to prepare for church. The church we are going to is built at the former site of a crematorium and is a Korean speaking congregation. It located behind the Yeongil University and it is to here that we have our multiple taxi drivers take us. It’s a long hike in the hot sun up the hill to the university and we are sweating by the time we reach the church. Inside, we have a traditional Korean worship service and our group is introduced to the congregation. After the service, we head back up to the university to have lunch at the cafeteria and then are given an overview lecture and summary of Yeongil’s mission by a member of the staff. By this time, several adult members of our group are nodding off in their plush chairs around the conference table, at which point some of the kids start taking sly cell-phone photographs. Soon, we are on the bus back to the hotel and Jae Young and I again opt out of the market excursion and take another nap instead.

After everyone comes back from the market loaded with goodies, it’s time to go back out for dinner. And tonight is a special treat. Real Chinese Shabu-Shabu. Shabu-Shabu is a dish which they have in Korea but which originates in China. It is very thin strips of beef or pork boiled in a dish of boiling broth for a few seconds and then eaten with many vegetables which can also be thrown in the pot. At this restaurant, which is very nice, each person gets their own personal boiling pot and can cook away to their heart’s content and desire. It is very delicious but the smell which is generated by all the boiling pots is not delicious. We leave the restaurant with very full tummies and clean teeth. Why clean teeth? Because the restaurant provides all their patrons with a disposable toothbrush and toothpaste! Pretty spiffy I thought.

On this last night, we all gather in Pastor Daniel’s hotel room for a time of sharing and expressing praise and gratitude to God and to each other. Each person sits in the “special chair” and shares something he or she learned on the trip and then the others take turn sharing what they thought was special about this person. It is a very special time and we are all touched by shared thoughts and experiences. At the end, we have a special prayer time and pray for the ministry in China and North Korea in particular. Then, everyone disperses for their various rooms, needing to make final preparations for the morning’s departure.

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