Worship at Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene in Seoul

July 17, 2016July 19, 2016 Daryl Densford Church of the Nazarene, Life & Family, Ministry Cafe for Else, Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene, Pastor Tak Kyung Sung, Seoul, South Korea

I was excited to get to worship today at another Church of the Nazarene in Korea before returning to the United States. Today, my last Sunday on the Peninsula, I attended Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene in Seoul.

When I attended the Korea National District Church of the Nazarene district assembly back in March, I met the pastor, Tak Kyung Sung, who told me then he would like to have me come and speak at his church. However, my duties as pastor of the Traditional Protestant Congregation on post kept me from being able to do much else on Sundays, so I haven’t been able to attend but I kept in touch with Bashir, one of the pastors at the Eoulrim church. Bashir and I have been able to get together a few times since the district assembly. Through Bashir, I was finally able to attend worship at Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene, on my last Sunday in Korea.

1100 Service

“Eoulrim” means together or in harmony. That is an exciting name for a church, reminiscent of Acts 2 when “they were all together in one place.” Eoulrim Church has multiple services on Sunday; I first attended the main service at 1100 where I was asked to briefly share a little about what I do as an Army Chaplain and what brought me to Korea. Here’s a clip of that introduction which ends with the gifts they gave me for being there. The first part of my intro didn’t make the video. What you miss is, “Good morning. My name is Daryl Densford and I am from the United States. I am the fifth generation in my family to be a member of the Church of the Nazarene…” :

I really enjoyed being in this service, even though it was in Korean. As I have commented in previous posts, the language spoken is often not as relevant as the presence of the Holy Spirit and the feeling of being among family in the Church of the Nazarene. I also experienced this when I attended Tree Planted by the Water Church of the Nazarene. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to feel “at home” wherever in the world God takes you! One of the songs we sung in this service spoke of God being present in the service. I was moved to tears when Bashir told me the lyrics, having just written about the significance about God’s presence in services where I don’t know the language the night before!

One of Bashir’s daughters sung with the music team in this service (on the left in the below picture). She also knows English very well and helped Bashir with the translation of my introduction. The music was very good and the congregation sang with enthusiasm:

The pastor spoke with what felt very much like God’s empowerment. While I couldn’t understand what he said, I certainly felt God’s presence during his message. Bashir skimmed the wave tops with his translation (sitting beside me) so I got enough to understand his urging his people to work with God in His movement and leadership and expect God to do great things.

Lunch

Following the first service, the congregation went up to their coffee shop for lunch together. I ate with the pastor, Bashir and another visiting minister in the pastor’s study (off of the cafe), and enjoyed the conversation. The lunch was a traditional Korean meal with rice, beef (I think Bulgogi), kimchi, noodles and some green stuff (sorry, not sure what it was). I ate some of it, but even after a year in Korea I haven’t been able to acquire a taste for all of it.

The visiting minister and I had an especially long (and meaningful) conversation as Bashir and the pastor were active with doing “pastoral” things. He had studied and taught in the U.S. in the D.C. area and had significant insight into American-Asian cultures and interaction as well as the mission of God.

Eoulrim Church of the Nazarenen — Of course we had to have a cup of coffee after eating lunch!

1400 Service

After lunch we went to the next service at 1400, which was also in Korean. At this service, in addition to more good music, the visiting minister who had studied and taught for many years in the U.S. spoke to the congregation from Acts 1:8. For being a Southern Baptist, he had quite a bit to say about the work of the Holy Spirit, from what I got from Bashir’s wave-top translation and the little bit of English the preacher used (I think for my benefit)!

Another of Bashir’s daughters sung a special at this service. Here’s a video of her:

1530 (English) Service

Next was the English service at 1530. At this service I had the privilege to preach. Even though it was an English service, many of those in attendance are still learning English, so some (most) of my sermon was translated into Korean by my friend Bashir. I think this may have been more difficult than translating straight from English to Korean as there was more discussion about the best words to use both in Korean and English.

Because of the way the translating was being discussed, it was much more “conversational” but occasionally I would get going without pausing for translation which caused Bashir to have to re-preach that portion of the message. Many times it felt like we were team-preaching which seemed to be very effective since I’m not familiar with Korean language or culture. It turned out to be a very fun time.

This was another great experience for me (as are most times when I am able to preach). I always get excited at the “international-ness” of the Church of the Nazarene when I have the opportunity to minister among them in other countries.

Cafe for Else, run by the Eoulrim Church, on the 1st floor of the building where the church worships.

I really, really enjoyed my time at Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene, as I did with Tree Planted by the Water Church of the Nazarene a couple weeks ago. I appreciate the interaction I have had with Nazarenes in Korea and the friends I have made during my time here!

You can find more about Eoulrim Church of the Nazarene at their website, www.eoulrim.net

Ilsan Lake Park

July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 Daryl Densford Travel & Siteseeing Ilsan Lake Park, Seoul

Following the worship service at Tree Planted by the Water Church of the Nazarene, Pastor Kim and his wife took me on a tour of the area. One of the sites we saw was Ilsan Lake Park, which is one of the largest man-made parks in Asia. “The park offers visitors a lot to see and do including the Riverside Square, artificial islands, a 4.7 km bike path, children’s play ground, natural experience site, musical fountain, 100 species of wild flowers and a dense forest with 200,000 trees.”¹

It was a beautiful day to walk through the park where there were many families enjoying the park and nice weather. Around the lake is a walk/bike path with several areas to enjoy as you walk. We didn’t walk around the whole 4.7 km path around the lake, but we saw much of the park. Here are some pictures of from our walk, the pictures that have me in the were taken by Pastor Kim’s wife (thanks!):

Ilsan Lake Park — Checking out a map of the area.

John is showing me how to play Yutnori, which is “a board dice with four wooden sticks, is one of the most popular traditional games of Korea and is usually played on the first day of the New Year by two players (or teams). Each player (or team of two players) takes turns throwing yut sticks. Each stick has two sides (round and flat), which makes the stick roll. Five combinations are possible with yut sticks: do, gae, geol, yut and mo. A player achieving a yut or mo is allowed to roll again. If a board piece lands on a space occupied by an opponent, it is returned to the start and the player goes again. If a piece lands on a space occupied by one’s own team, the pieces can go together (counting as one). The combinations determine how the board pieces are moved, and the team which moves all four pieces around the board first wins…”²

One of the attractions of the park is a small cactus display in a nice greenhouse:

The stone lion statues have been regarded as symbols of power and dignity in China, so they used to be displayed in front of residences of the upper classes (above the 7th grade of feudal bureaucratic system) and government offices.

Among the common people, the statues were used to decorate incense burners, houses and pavilions. In order to expel devils and avoid misfortunes they are usually exhibited outside the gates with their majestic airs, as the sign of wealth and prosperity.

Stone lion statues are usually displayed in couples. The male lion steps on the ball by his right forefoot that symbolizes power, while the female lion sets her left forefoot on the small lion, that means prosperity of descendants and the fact that there must be a prominent leader among them.

These stone lion statues are presented for Koyang city from Binzhou Prefecture in People’s Government of China in commemoration of the World Flower Exhibition Koyang, Korea 1997.

The city of Qiqihar in Heilongjiang Province, People’s Republic of China, has constructed and is donating this Hakgoejeong (a traditional Chinese pavilion), to its sister sity of Goyang in Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea, to reinforce the friendly relationship and to celebrate the opening of the World Flower Exhibition Goyang 2000. “Hak” stands for Danjeonghak which is the city bird of Qiqihar, “Goe” stands for roses which are the city flowers of Goyang, and “Jeong” for a pavilion. This Northern Chinese traditional style pavilion represents the long history of cultural exchanges between Korea and China at the same time. The pavilion, situated in Lake Park surrounded by beautiful flowers, symbolizes wishes of peace, happiness, development and prosperity for the both cities of Qiqihar and Goyang. The granite stylobate of two steps shows the friendship of the two cities is as firm as a rock and the paintings of Danjeonghak and roses decorating its eaves amplify the splendor.

¹“Imagine Your Korea” website

²Wikipedia, “Traditional Korean Games.”

Road Trip: Seoul to Pyeongtaek & Back

January 10, 2016January 11, 2016 Chaplain Travel & Siteseeing Domino's Pizza, Harley Davidson, highway signs, McDonald's, Pyeongtaek, Seoul

I make a lot of trips to Camp Humphreys, but seldom take many pictures. Last week I had a little more time, so took more pictures. Here is what I saw, with no commentary (click on a picture to enlarge it):

20160111_181336

The War Memorial of Korea (Outside)

July 18, 2015March 18, 2016 Chaplain History, Military, Travel & Siteseeing Korean War, Monument, Museum, Seoul

I thought that a good site to visit toward the beginning of my tour in Korea would be The War Memorial of Korea right off post in Yongsan-gu. It is more than just a memorial but a very well-done museum with most signs and descriptions in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese. What really struck me about the memorial and museum is how they honored not just their own Service Members who served and died but also -to the extreme- those from other countries who came to Korea to help preserve their freedom from Communist rule.

The museum features exhibits and artifacts from the earliest Korean history all the way through their involvement in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Here are a few pictures from my visit, but there was way too much to see to preserve on film (or digits)! To keep the post from being too long, I’ll divide it up into outside and inside pictures.

“The Statue of Brothers…is a symbol of the Korean War…The upper part of the statute depicts a dramatic moment when a South Korean officer and his younger brother, a North Korean Soldier, encounter and embrace each other at the battlefield. The statue expresses reconciliation, love, and forgiveness…The crack in the dome stands for the division of Korea and the hope for reunification.”

The Tower of Korean War. “Symbolizing the image of a bronze sword and a tree of life. The bronze sword represents the time-honored history and the warrior spirit. The tree of life symbolizes the prosperity and peace of the Korean people.”

Statues Defending the Fatherland: “The statues represent 38 people from all walks of life who overcame the Korean War and depict the suffering and pain caused by the war while embodying the sublime spirit of sacrifice and dedication to the defense of the fatherland of past patriots.”

“The Monument of King Gwanggaeto the Great (391~413) was built by his son King Jangsu (413~491) in 414 B.C. in commemoration of his father. ” (This is a life-size replica of the original monument currently located in China.)

“Erecting the Clock Tower: Symbolizing War and Peace, a Twin Clock Tower Points to a new time of New Millennium on a pile of rusty arms. Stopped clock wrecked by the Korean War. Here a Clock Tower is erected for the day of reunification, again beating like the hearts of two girls.”

“The Clock of Hope for Peaceful Reunification: Someday when Unification is realized this Clock will be put on the Clock Tower and will indicate the time of Unification.”

Korean War Museum Aircraft — This picture shows a sampling of the many military aircraft used in Korea’s history on display outside of the museum…

Korean War Museum Equipment — …and the tanks and artillery…

Patrol Killer, Medium (PKM) 357 — Referring to the boat on the left, “The PKM-357 National Security Exhibition Pavilion pays tribute to the six heroes of PKM-357 who have died with honor. The 2nd Sea battle of Yeonpyeong (29, June 2002) while fighting the enemy in order to safeguard the country’s waters and contribute to promoting the national security awareness of the people with the importance of defending the NLL.”

Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea

July 11, 2015July 19, 2015 Chaplain Travel & Siteseeing Korea, Seoul, Yongsan

I didn’t want to be stuck in the hotel or on base all weekend, so I just went a little off post on Saturday, but walked for about 4 hours. I saw just a small part of Seoul, Yongsan-Gu. It was really hot and frankly, the walk wore me out but it was nice to see this side of Seoul and experience the culture just a little bit. My one interaction was buying a bottle of water. I don’t know what he said, but gave him a large enough bill that I knew it was enough. I counted it up later and I think that bottle of water was just about a quarter!

Here are some pictures from my walk with descriptions below them (coming soon):