Westerners Outing

We all went out again on the 10th June, to visit an historical village near DaeCheon Dam. The day was a little misty, but we had a great time, looking at the old villiage.


Later we went to the CheongJu fortress to show some of the others (see some earlier photos)


Afterwards we all went for dinner (Mama's and Papa's buffet pizza) We ate so much! But it was good

Visit to Brad and Laura

Some of the Foreigners (Westerners) went on the 6th June (a public holiday) to visit Brad and Laura Lemon at their school near Miwon. It was a beautiful day, and we spent a good time looking around the school, and having fellowship with each other.


We forgot the cake, but we had a great time eating watermelon
Brad and Laura made us very welcome, and have a very comfortable apartment.
We had a great time.

Trip to Soraksan with The Pastors

We went on a 2 day trip to Soraksan. This is the highest mountain in South Korea. It is situated on the north east, near the sea.
We went to Jeongdongjin beach, where we both had a ride on quadbikes. Great fun!
The boat on the hill is a hotel and restaurant.
It was beautiful to travel along by the sea. We went to a great restaurant at Sokcho. Sushi was the main menu.
That night we went ten pin bowling, and got to bed very early the next morning, after going to another restaurant at 1am for another meal.



Guess what happened the next day? We were both sick and had to be brought home early! What a disappointment! We missed the rest of the sight-seeing. We will go there again!

Chan Ho and In Kyung's Wedding

We were really blessed to attend ChanHo and InKyung's wedding on the 27th May 2006 . It was held in Seoul in the Lotte hotel. Chanho is our doctor friend, and has always been a great help to us, and many other 'foreigners', since we arrived in Korea. He asked all the 'foreigners' from Englsih worship to be there. What a beautiful wedding. The flowers were abundant and gorgeous.

InKyung had 3 beautiful wedding dresses. One for the first part of the wedding ceremony. One for the cutting of the cake (which had 5 tiers) and reception. And a traditional Korean wedding dress for the Traditional Korean part of the wedding. The embroidery on this dress was beautiful.



There were about 600 people at the wedding. 3 buses took ChanHo's friends from Cheongju to Seoul. Pastor Chung conducted the wedding, and I had to say a few words of congratulations
The food at the reception was delicious, especially for us foreigners, as there was a western style 6 course menu. (The main course being steak) We had a wonderful time, sharing in the beautiful wedding of our friends, and we will always remember the day.

Vacation in South Africa

We left for South Africa on the 21st March and returned to Korea on 14th May. We spent the first week in Capetown with our daughters, Merisca and Katy, and then went Gaansbaai for a few days with Merisca. After this we flew to Pietermaritzburg to spend the last 10 days with our son Brendan and his wife Leanne and our granddaughters Joel and Erin.











We flew on Syngapore airlines with a time difference of 7 hours altogether. The flight was great and it was good to land in CapeTown, and see the girls.

Cape Town as always was beautiful, and it was good to go to the beach again. Spending time with our grandaughters was a real bonus to the holiday.
But this web page is not about South Africa. This web is Kamminga's in Korea. We'll have another one for places we visited.

Farewell Dinner

We were taken out for dinner on 19th March as a farewell dinner to us before we left for South Africa on vaction. We also went for a drive to DaeCheon dam, and had some fun there.

Foreigners Fellowship

Foreigners Fellowship is for Westerners in the church, or anyone who is interested to attend. We meet once a month for fun and fellowship. Usually the time is spent eating something good.
Pancake evening, Hamburger night, Turkey dinner etc. We also go on outings, and ten pin bowling etc. Some good fun.

DMZ Tour

14 of us Westerners from church went to the De Militarized Zone between North and South Korea. We went to Seoul in a church vehicle, and met up with the tour bus, and tour guide for the DMZ tour. The information was extremely interesting, and also very sad. This area is controlled by the military of both North and South Korea. The first place we visited was the Unification Bridge which divides the two Koreas. Many people had returned to their families over this bridge after being apart for 50 years. Some family members are still separated by politics.
Some of us can be seen standing in front of the bridge barrier where many messages have been
left by family and friends

We also visited the new station which has been built to one day (hopefully) be a link between the two Koreas.
All the immigration buildings etc have already been built.


I had my passport stamped to show that I had been at the DMZ
There is also a special viewing place where you can look over the river and look into North Korea. The day was very misty, so we did not get very good photos of the North side. Maybe we will see it again. In this photo you can see Maria and I by a statue, trying to push the divide together.

English Worship Retreat 2006

We had our Winter Retreat at Seowon Church which is situated in the Seowon Valley near Boeun.
60 people attended of which 30 were children. The day was cold and snow was on the ground, but there was warmth in our hearts.
We arrived at 10 am by bus and had breakfast together.


Rinze led all of us in a time of "Getting to know you" with games and fun.
Even the children were very good in joining in with the games, and they were an example to many of the adults as they bravely spoke in English.
There was also a time of "Yarn Sharing" where everyone had to give their testimonies.
Worship Time was based on Romans 12:1-2 and Isaiah 64:8. "What shape are you in"



During the adults worship time, the children went on their own with Tere and helpers, and had their own childrens retreat.
They learnt about God's creation and love.
Later they came into the adults retreat, and sang a song to us, and told us about what they had learnt.




Lunch was in a restaurant near the church owned by one of the elders. The food was pork rashers barbecued on a gas ring in the center of the table, with many side dishes, and kimchee.
The idea is the take a lettuce leaf in your hand, place some meat in it with a little rice, and a little chilli or side dish of your choice. You then fold the lettuce around everything and pop this into your mouth. Yum. Very Tasty!
This was followed by group Bible Studies, and a final summing up of all that we had learnt.

After this we had recreation time and went to visit a historical national site in the area. The Sun family house built in 1912-1921 with 99 rooms. It was very interesting to see this huge traditional home.
It was beautiful inside, and the wood work was really impressive.
Traditionally 99 rooms is symbolic of a rich home in the history of Korea. Only the king of Korea could have 100 rooms or more.

We then went for supper to a restaurant on the site, and then travelled home by bus, arriving in Cheongju at 6pm.

Visitors

Derik and Doreen Smit (all the way from Kuilsrivier in South Africa) attended our service . They were visiting some Korean friends in Daejon, who brought them to English Worship. We had a lovely time chatting to them about home, and listening to their tales about their travels.

Scenes from the Main Church

There are 5 Korean Worship Services in the main church on Sunday morning, one on Sunday night, and two on Wednesday. Each of these services have a different choir of about 120 people. As can be seen by this photo, of the 11.30 worship, the choir has an orchestra. The choir sing fantastically, and although we cannot understand the words, they bring us great blessing. There is also a male voice choir in the church
Translation (through ear phone) is given in English and Russian at the 11.30 service, so we always attend this service. As has been mentioned before, the church holds 2000 people in the body of the church, and has 3 baby rooms which hold about 50 people.
Foreigners, as we are called, normally sit on one of the balconies, and the sound technichians sit on the other balcony. we have a great view from there.
This picture is Liz with the Russians. They come to Korea to work and can obtain visas for 3 months only. They must return home and reapply for visas again to come back. They are very friendly, and we have formed bonds with some of them
Sunday Evening Worship also has a Praise Team who lead us in worship. They sing so well. They are led by Bill (Yum Mog Sa Nim) who also has a very nice voice. He is also in charge of all the church music teams in the church.
These 2 photo show the elders of the church, with Pastor Chung Sam Soo (Mog Sa Nim) who in this first picture, where blessing the congreagatio on New Years Eve. Pastor Chung and his wife were also prayed for and blessed by the whole congreagation, for the coming year. They can be seen kneeling on the stage.
One Sunday night, all the choirs came together, for a Choir Festival. They sang first of all singing on their own, and then altogether. It was a fantastic sight and sound for us to see and hear.

Scenes from English Worship

English Worship is held in the Vision Hall which holds about 450 people. The attendance is between 70-90 people.
We have a Praise Team called "The Cherubim" They sing well, and are really in tune with what is required in Worship.
We started a Childrens Choir called "The King's Kids" and they sing in church once a month, learning English praise songs (See Christmas Eve play)
A Drama/Skit team has also been formed, and they perform Bi-monthly, bringing us a message in worship. They speak only in English, so it is a great confidence encourager for the young people to act in English.
Bible Study is great, and now has about 20 people attending. Both Westerners and Koreans. We have a blessed time together.