First Full Day

Hello from South Korea! We’ve been here a little over 24 hours now.  Our first impressions are that while the weather is cold and windy, the people are warm, gracious and hospitable.

Our travel day was mostly uneventful. The flight from Detroit to Seoul was delayed by nearly two hours, making our long day even longer. We landed at about 5:00 Thursday evening, which was about 22 hours after we arrived at the Greensboro airport. We breezed through immigration and customs, and were met by smiling faces from the local church with which we’re working. We drove, we ate, we checked into our hotel, and we slept! We started today by visiting the Far East Broadcasting Company, a radio ministry that has been serving this region since 1956. We were honored to worship with the staff; Pastor David Harrop shared a message. The tour was fascinating, and we were impressed by the ministry’s far-reaching impact.

Afterward we visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separates North Korea from South Korea. When I first heard about this tour, I pictured a no-man’s-land, lined with barbed wire and heavily armed sentries. Barbed wire and armed sentries are indeed a part of the picture, but there are also several exhibits expressing the sorrow of the separation and the hope for future re-unification. North Korea poses a constant threat to South Korea, but the South Korean people continue to hope and pray that one day there will be one united Korea. Thanks for your prayers. We’d especially appreciate your prayers for Steve, our fearless leader, who’s battling a nasty cold. We have two more days of touring; pray that our eyes and ears would be open to the needs around us. We start English Camp on Monday, 1/16. Pray that we’d be prepared and that we’d be flexible, since we don’t know exactly what to expect.

-- BLR, for the team