Sunday

June 15, 2025

Today we took the command to make the Sabbath a day of rest quite literally. We began the day by securing a taxi to drive us to the other side of Seoul. It was only a 10 km trip, but it took about 40 minutes. We have a Korean friend in Michigan whose dad is a pastor here in Seoul. We wanted to visit his church. Luke had also communicated with the mom frequently in the past few months, so he wanted to meet her in person. The church was located on the 3rd floor of a building that was crammed between tons of other buildings just like everything seems to be here in the city. It was small in size but filled with people during the service. Everything was in Korean, of course, but we were given a little headset at the beginning of the service. A member of the congregation translated the sermon into that little headset while the pastor was preaching. They were so accommodating! After the service we were invited to stay for lunch.

Several things struck me about that service. It's the differences in culture that I find so fascinating. At the end of the service, the pastor walked down the aisle before the people departed. That isn't so unusual. But the unique part was that he bowed to each row before he walked past. And each row stood up and bowed back to him. The lunch was served immediately after the service. I was curious where we were all going to sit as the church is very small. Everyone dished up bowls of food and then just sat right down in the pew again. In America, at least the part where I am from, we love to build big churches with spaces for all kinds of activities. This can be a good thing, but it struck me today that this congregation seemed completely content with their small space and still managed to have meaningful fellowship inside of it.

I must admit, it was very hard for me to concentrate on the sermon. I think it was hard for all 4 of us. It was being translated into our headsets, but hearing the pastor speaking in Korean and then hearing it translated into our earbuds made for a very disjointed experience. But I was delighted to find out that I could sing the choruses of the hymns we sang! I followed the words of the versus with my finger just as a child would who is beginning to read. I had to do that or I would quickly lose my spot. But when the choruses were repeated, I was able to sing them in Korean by reading the words in the hymnal. I loved it!

After lunch we took the bus to the E-mart which is similar to our Costco. It was in the basement of a mall and was a couple different levels of the basement. Everything felt so similar to Costco- the free samples, the rows and rows of food, etc. But then all of a sudden, a strange food would catch my eye- swarms of octopus, big huge mounds of fresh seaweed.

We took a taxi back in order to better transport the groceries. The rest of the day was filled with resting and little domestic tasks. We've been cramming a lot into our trip which has been great but has also left us feeling tired. Today was the perfect day to slow things down a bit. Luke and the boys dealt with the garbage which is a bit of a task. Koreans recycle EVERYTHING and even have a separate spot for organic waste. It all has to be brought down 14 floors to the basement and then sorted. I also did a little laundry and we ate a dinner of spaghetti here at the apartment. Jordan stayed awake until 7 tonight before he just couldn't keep his eyes open a moment longer. Hopefully we'll all sleep well tonight so we feel refreshed for another day as a tourist tomorrow!